| Equipment Type | Fees (as of July 1, 2024) |
|---|---|
| Laser scanning confocals (Leica SP8s + Stellaris, Zeiss 710, 780s, 880s) |
$30 per hour |
| Airyscan super-resolution (Zeiss) | $30 per hour |
|
Zeiss Z.1 Lightsheet |
$34 per hour |
| Spinning disk confocals (Andor XD, Andor Dragonfly) | $25 per hour |
| 2-Photon - Leica DIVE | $50 per hour |
| Leica STED - super-resolution | $30 per hour |
| Widefield microscopes (Zeiss Axio Observer, Axio Imager) | $18 per hour |
|
Live cell station, VivaView, and DeltaVision (Live Cell imaging) |
$19.50 per hour for first 3 hours , then $5 per hour for the rest of the imaging session |
| Laser capture microdissection - Zeiss | $28 per hour |
| Zeiss Lumar Stereoscope | $9 per hour |
| Zeiss Elyra7 (Super-resolution, TIRF) | $40 per hour |
| LUMICKS (optical trap) | $40 per hour |
| Extended technical assistance |
$67 per hour |
| Workstations | Free |
| Training session (microscopes + workstations) | $67 per hour |
- The charges apply for the time you use the system - but please try to fairly and accurately reserve time in the calendar, and do not book excessive time.
- It is important to cancel your reservation immediately if you don't need the time (we ask you to do so at least 24 hours in advance, if possible) - we don't want time wasted on the busy and expensive machines.
- Please realize that if you cancel very close to your reservation start time, somebody might leave the system on for you. It is your responsibility to go check the system to make sure it gets turned if the timing and other reservations on the system require.
- These fees apply however you use the system or the room (ie if you have booked the system you pay the fee for your use even if you are just moving data, checking your cells, etc).
- If you don't use your reservation, the charge is made for the entire booking as no modification to the actual used time is made.
Funding and Value to the Research Community
The LMCF recovers some of the direct operation costs through user fees. Our fees for using the microscopes are heavily subsidized by generous funding support from the Office of the Provost, the Duke School of Medicine, the Duke Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the North Carolina Biotechnology. We hope you find the fees for using the microscopes reasonable considering what microscopy offers and the substantial cost in acquiring and running microscopy hardware. Please bear in mind:
- For a few dollars you can use instrumentation that costs several hundred thousand dollars
- Most of the costs of the microscope are paid for by core funding, users actually pay for less than 50% of the real cost of running the microscopes and none of the cost of acquiring them
- For the price of buying your own confocal you could use the LMCF microscopes for 40 hours per month for more than 50 years, plus you don't have to do maintenance and repairs.
Funding Acknowledgement
Current:
Please cite and list the appropriate grant number in your acknowledgements for the following systems in the Light Microscopy Core Facility. The systems listed were purchased with NIH S10 award funds and NIH requires that we cite the specific grant number in any publications and presentation. Inclusion of the appropriate grant number for these LMCF systems is required by NIH and could impact the future success of these types of grants to Duke. Thank you. Please let us know if you have any questions.
The Zeiss Lightsheet was funded by NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant 1S10OD030243-01.
The Zeiss ELYRA7 was funded by NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant # 1S10OD28703-01.
The LUMICKS C-trap was funded by NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant # 1S10OD30407-01A1.
The Leica Stellaris 8 FALCON was funded by NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant # 1S10OD034340-01A1.