Equipment

The current advanced equipment inventory includes:

Instrument

Designation

Activity Code

Thermo QE LC Orbitrap-MS

Jupiter

27686

Illumina NextSeq Sequencer

Mars

27687

Thermo Quant Studio 6 qPCR

Mercury

27688

Thermo Single Quadrupole GC-MS

Neptune

27689

Thermo QE HF LC Orbitrap-MS

Saturn

27690

Thermo GC Orbitrap-MS

Uranus

27691

Illumina MiSeq Sequencer

Venus

27692

User Charges:

There is a variety of ways of handling charging for instrument time. This could be by the hour, by the sample, etc. Our aim is to keep it as simple as possible, to keep prices reasonable, and to account for, at times, vast differences in per-sample machine run times. For example, targeted analyses of small molecules are often completed within a few minutes, while non-target analysis of samples or proteomics can sometimes take hours for a single sample. Additionally, more specialized analyses might require time to set up, which would render the instrument unavailable to other users.

We stress the fact that this is not a money-making exercise but is simply a mechanism to provide available funds to permit the purchase of service contracts to maintain the instruments. Any excess accumulated funds would be reinvested into upgrading existing or purchasing new hardware and/or software, thus benefiting the user base.

Rates:

Instrument and Time Unit

Rate ($ per time unit) USask

Rate ($ per time unit) External to USask

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus     Hourly

$25

$50

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus     Daily

$500

$1,000

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus   Weekly

$2,500

$5,000

Neptune     Hourly

$15

$30

Neptune     Daily

$300

$600

Neptune     Weekly

$1,800

$3,600

Venus     Per run <2x150 bp

$250

$500

Venus     Per run >2x150 bp

$300

$600

Mars     Per run <2x150 bp

$500

$1,000

Mars     Weekly

$700

$1,400

Mercury     Hourly

$16

$32

 

Oversight Committee:

The oversight committee will initially consist of Dr. Markus Brinkmann (Director, Toxicology Center), Dr. Paul Jones (PI, OrbiTrap instrument purchase and use), and Dr. Kerstin Bluhm (Research Scientist, Toxicology). Once the QReserve system is up and running and procedures are in place, the management committee will evaluate the need to add additional members to the committee. In case the need arises, additional committee members might be assigned on a rotating basis.

Procedures

  1. All instrument bookings will be handled using QReserve QReserve Login
  2. Users and PIs will receive training on the QReserve system once it is set up and in operation.
  3. USask faculty, students, and staff can log in using their NSIDs. External users will need to be set up manually by the management committee.
  4. Instrument users will be registered by the management committee, and only bookings by registered users will be approved for instrument time.
  5. User registration will encompass the assignment of ‘credentials’ that need to be completed before users can book instrument time. These credentials will include general training certificates such as basic laboratory safety certificates and biosafety, where necessary, as well as instrument-specific training credentials.
  6. Each instrument will have a designated ‘manager’ who will oversee the instrument's management, provide instrument-specific credentials to the users, and approve instrument use.
  7. Instrument managers or their designates will be responsible for ensuring the maintenance of instrument consumables such as gases, maintenance buffers, etc. Users will be responsible for providing all specialized buffers, consumables, columns, etc.
  8. Users will be required to provide a CFOPAL at the time of booking an instrument.
  9. The user’s supervisor will be required to act as a secondary ‘approver’ on each booking unless the supervisor requests this safeguard be removed for an advanced user.
  10. In the event that the user does not use the instrument during the booked time period, the instrument time will still be charged. Note: Users will be able to cancel bookings up to 48 hrs prior to use with no charge being applied. Repeated cancellations of ‘aspirational’ bookings (“I think I can get my samples ready so I will book time”) are not permitted.
  11. Instruments will be bookable on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Daily bookings must antail and run across the after-hours period from 5 PM to 8 AM the following day. Weekly bookings must entail and run across the weekend, from 5 PM on Friday to 8 AM on the following Monday. Bookings not not following these rules will not be approved.
  12. For each booking, it is required that all instrument cleaning, flushing, column removal, and reconfiguration be finished before the commencement of the next booking period.
  13. Users not following appropriate cleaning and flushing of the instruments may have their use credentials rescinded and will no longer be able to book instrument time.
  14. Credential revocation will be assessed by the management committee in consultation with the supervisor.
  15. In situations where timing conflicts occur for instrument use in critical time windows, the management committee will coordinate instrument use to ensure equitable access to all users.
  16. PIs will receive a monthly statement of instrument use and an invoice. Journal Vouchers will be automatically completed by Adriana Brown, Toxicology Manager Finance and Operations, for Toxicology fund numbers. For other fund numbers, PIs will receive a single invoice and be responsible for any required division of costs between their fund numbers and for completing Journal Vouchers. External users will be invoiced and asked to provide payment by cheque.
  17. The management committee will provide an annual report to the Director of the Toxicology Center, the Toxicology Faculty, and OVPR. The report will summarize instrument use, user fees collected, and funds expended.
  18. Upon request, the management committee will provide PIs with cost estimates for the purpose of project planning.