Access and Booking
Any planned EM work has to be agreed by the Laboratory director Eija Jokitalo prior to its start based on a submitted project sheet (EMBI Project Request Form can be found in the Open Iris reservation system under the Services tab) including a description or summarized results of on-going work (1 page maximum) and is annually re-evaluated.
The following points are addressed:
- Is the use of EM important or indispensable to solve the problem?
- Are there resources available for the work?
- Is the project scientifically justified?
- A clear risk assessment, especially of biohazards has to be made
- Is this project done on the basis of joint use of instruments and paid services or as a scientific collaboration?
When bringing the samples please fill up the sample sheet form and give it to the EM Unit personnel.
Our pricing follows the basic principles of Biocenter Finland supported technology services. We are providing services to all academic users at the same price, and prices are calculated to cover direct costs of the service, aiming at cost neutrality. For non-academic users, services are provided with market prices. If services are provided as part of scientific collaboration, the costs are distributed so that the collaborator will cover the instrument fees and consumables, and technical time is not charged.
Fees depend on the equipment used, and are divided to two categories:
- For academic research
- For commercial customers (depending on free capacities)
In order to guarantee optimal performance of delicate instruments, all new users are trained on site at no extra cost in projects that are estimated to use minimum of 10 hours of microscopy time. For shorter projects, chargeable operator services will be provided.
Advanced EM-techniques, such as correlated light electron microscopy, various immunoEM techniques, high pressure freezing followed by freeze substitution, electron tomography and 3D serial block face imaging on SEM are mainly offered through research collaboration, where we will provide supervision in specimen preparation, analysis of specimens and interpretation of results for students that come to perform their EM projects in our laboratory.
Publications presenting EM-work carried out with the help of our staff and using our instruments should be mentioned as acknowledgement (for example, with the following standard phrase:
"we thank Electron Microscopy Unit of the Institute of Biotechnology,
University of Helsinki for providing laboratory facilities."
Please do not forget to send us a pdf file of every publication mentioning the EM-unit!
When bringing the samples please fill up the sample sheet form and give it to the EMBI personnel.
Price List for academic national groups and commercial customers
(0% VAT)
Microscopy |
Academic national groups |
Commercial customers |
| Use of transmission electron microscopes: | ||
| Jeol JEM-1400 TEM | 40.00 /h | 240.00 /h |
| Hitachi HT7800 TEM | 40.00 /h | 240.00 /h |
| Tecnai 20 FEG-TEM | 54.00 /h | 324.00 /h |
| Use of scanning electron microscope: | ||
| Quanta 250 FEG-SEM | 40.00 /h | 240.00 /h |
| 3View + Quanta 250 FEG-SEM | 380.00 /run (max 18h) | |
| Microscope operator services | 39.00 /h | 180.00 /h |
Training for the use of microscopes is not charged for projects using at least 10 microscopy hours.
For shorter projects, operator services are charged in addition to the microscope usage hours.
Specimen Preparation |
Academic national groups |
Commercial customers |
| Specimen embedding: | ||
|
Standard protocols, 3 blocks /s Flat embedding, 2 coverslips /s |
34.00 /sample 28.00 /sample |
104.00 /sample 104.00 /sample |
|
Volume EM specimens: Enhanced contrast protocol, 3 blocks/s Post-processing (incl. pins and Pt-coating) |
66.00 /sample 44.00 /sample |
|
| Plastic sectioning: | ||
|
Ultrathin sections for TEM (3 grids/sample + post-staining) Semi-thick sections for LM |
24.00 /sample 20.00 /sample |
96.00 /sample 96.00 /sample |
| Cryo-sectioning (including up to 10 grids) | 75.00 /sample | 300.00 /sample |
| High pressure freezing (including specimen carriers) | 80.00 /sample | 320.00 + technical time |
| Freeze substitution | 22.00 /sample | 66.00 /sample |
| Critical point drying | 20.00 /run | 100.00 /run |
| Use of platinum sputter | 14.00 /run | 63.00 /run |
| Use of carbon coater | 108.00 /run | 45.00 /run |
| Use of glow discharge unit | 3.30 /run | 20.00 /run |
| Technical time | 28.00 /h | 109.00 /h |
Prices for specimen preparation for collaborative projects are negotiable on a case-by-case basis.
Consumables |
Price |
| SEM Specimen stub (including tape and glue) | 2.60 |
| Formaldehyde (EMS, 16 %, 10 ml) | 7.00 |
| Glutaraldehyde (50 %, 1 ml) | 5.00 |
| Grid box | 24.00 |
| SEM Specimen box | 15.00 |
| Cryo Specimen stub | 2.00 |
| Single slot Cu-grid | 0.90 |
| Ni-and Cu-grid, thin bar, carbon coated (glow discharged) | 1.40 |
| Anti-mouse and anti-rabbit gold conjugates (10 µl) | 16.00 |
| Protein A Gold (10 µl) | 16.00 |
| Nano-gold conjugated anti-mouse or anti rabbit (10 µl) | 16.00 |
| Silver enhancement kit (1 ml) | 26.00 |
| Neutral UA 2 % (1 ml) | 5.00 |
| Methyl cellulose / UA (5 ml) | 5.50 |
Each project is a subject for annual re-evaluation!
In order to continue using microscopes please ask for project extension or re-submit the EMBI Project Request Form within the Open Iris reservation system.