CEMRC Guidelines

The following rules for the use of the Cryo Electron Microscopy Resource Center (CEMRC) have been established by the Staff of the CEMRC together with its Scientific Advisory Committee.

1. 1. All microscope operators must go through an initial orientation and be trained by CEMRC staff. Individuals may only operate the microscope autonomously once the CEMRC staff is satisfied that they have gained sufficient expertise in microscope operation.
   2. All microscope time is allocated to RU scientists only and no external users will be considered.
   3. All grid clipping, loading, unloading, and transfers are to be performed by CEMRC staff only. Under rare circumstances, the CEMRC staff may permit qualified users to perform some of these tasks autonomously.
   4. In the case of a collaboration between an RU scientist and an external scientist, all microscope operation must be performed by the trained RU scientist only.
   5. All users are responsible for carrying out their own sample vitrification, microscope operation, automated data collection and data analysis. The CEMRC staff will make itself available for training and consultation for sample vitrification, microscope operation and automated data collection.
   6. All user data will automatically be synced to RU’s central HPC storage. All data will be deleted from local disks 48 hours after the end of a user session.
   7. During normal use, there are five sessions per week allocated to the Talos Arctica. Under exceptional circumstances and for scientific reasons only, time slots may be modified at the discretion of the CEMRC staff. The normal time slots are:
      Talos Arctica
      Slot 1: Monday
      Slot 2: Tuesday
      Slot 3: Wednesday
      Slot 4: Thursday
      Slot 5: Friday-Sunday
   8. During normal use, there are three sessions per week allocated to the Titan Krios. Under exceptional circumstances and for scientific reasons only, time slots may be modified at the discretion of the CEMRC staff. The normal time slots are:
      Titan Krios
      Slot 1: Monday and Tuesday
      Slot 2: Wednesday and Thursday
      Slot 3: Friday-Sunday

To book time slots on these systems, the user must provide evidence that the sample has been well characterized and is suitable for cryo-TEM data collection. Such evidence can be provided in the form of negative-stain or low-resolution cryo-TEM images.

All requests for time are to be made via the laboratory representative designated by the PI. The representative will submit a request through the lab’s time request spreadsheet. To become familiar with this process, please send an e-mail to Mark Ebrahim: mebrahim@rockefeller.edu

Should dissention arise between the CEMRC staff and users, either party can bring their concerns to the Scientific Advisory Committee (Rod MacKinnon (chair), Greg Alushin, Jue Chen, Seth Darst, Sebastian Klinge, Tom Walz)