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; check Wiki pages for detailed instructions) including a description or summarized results of on-going work (1 page maximum) and is annually re-evaluated.
The following points are addressed:
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:
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!
For the best possible results ensure the following:
Starting from 1st of January, 2020 the microscope reservations are done using Open IRIS system.
For details please follow to the Microscope reservation page
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 |
| Use of scanning electron microscope: | ||
| FEI Quanta 250 FEG-SEM | 40.00 /h | 240.00 /h |
| SB-EM, 3View + Quanta 250 FEG-SEM | 380.00 /run (max 18h) | |
| Zeiss Crossbeam 550 FEG-SEM | 54.00 /h | 324.00 /h |
| FIB-SEM volumeEM + Zeiss XB550 | 500.00 /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 (only the reservation slot is charged).
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 |
| Processing of SEM samples | 28.00 /sample | 80.00 /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 | 10.00 /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 |
| TEM grid box | 36.00 |
| 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 |
| 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 from OpenIRIS reservation system (Dashboard->Inbox). The extension may only be asked by the submitter of the original project; members of the project do not have that possibility. Before asking for the extension, please make sure that the WBS code (or any other billing details) are still valid for the extension peroid!