With analogies to cell phone plans, we offer two ways for you to use our Facility:

• A la carte plan (like cell phone "Pay-as-you-go" plan): After scheduling with our staff, we will assist you at the microscope, operating the microscope for you. Get the answer quickly and have the confidence that images will be acquired with the highest standards of imaging quality. For safety reasons, you are not allowed to operate the microscope yourself. The rate is a very cost-effective $115/hr for direct, one-on-one professional assistance.
  
  
• Membership plan (like cell phone "Family" plan): For a low monthly fee ($120), each lab gets 2 hours of microscope time each month to share between the lab's users that are certified to operate the microscope themselves. Certification of a lab member follows a simple training session, providing an incredible educational opportunity to master microscopy as users gain practise while collecting their data. Certified users have 24/7 access to equipment with an online reservations system. Beyond the plan's base 2 hours/month, any extra microscope time used by lab members is charged only $25/hour.

If your lab uses our microscopes more than 12 hours per year, do the math. Membership is a terrific deal! Typical microscope sessions are ~3 hours each, and members have free access to computer workstation with sophisticated image processing software. After a handful of sessions (don't forget that you have to do the controls and replicates!), you'll quickly save hundreds or thousands of dollars a year with membership.

To ensure your volume savings through membership, we must ask the lab's PI for a twelve-month commitment in writing (application forms online). For accounting purposes, we define a lab as a group of people charging budgets under the same faculty PI. Details about our rates for other services are also online.

Stop by and meet the people. To discuss your specific application, please contact us to make an appointment.