Terms and Conditions: Cell Sorting

Booking the MCP Cell Sorters

Bookings via Calpendo can be made at any time. For bookings with less than 24 hours' notice, please email the manager at the specific node to check staff availability. Please wait for email confirmation that bookings with less than 24 hours' notice will go ahead, particularly if a booking has been placed during the weekend or during the summer holiday period.

The minimum booking for cell sorting is 1 hour after which users are charged in 30-minute increments. Users will be charged based on the time booked or time used, whichever is longer. The manager reserves the right to alter online bookings post-sort to adjust the time used (if longer than that booked).

The Facility manager reserves the right to change booking times depending on machine and staff availability, but will endeavour to give researchers as much notice as possible. On rare occasions, MCP staff may ask users to swap or modify start times with others users to increase the efficiency of usage.

Cancellation

Users can cancel their bookings up to 48 hours before their sort before a sort without financial penalty*.

Unless alternate users can be found for the full duration of a cancelled slot, cancellations with between 24-48 hours' notice before the scheduled start time will be charged 50% of the booked time, minimum of 1 hour. Cancelations with less than 24 hours notice, and no-shows will be charged in full.

*Users who consistently cancel bookings with little notice (2-3 days) will be warned and may be prevented from making future bookings. In extreme circumstances, these users will be charged for booked time that is cancelled with little notice. While we understand that sometimes experiments just don't work out, 'place markings' or 'just in case' bookings that are cancelled with little notice do not provide other researchers with sufficient planning time for their experiments and it is financially detrimental to the Platform if timeslots cannot be filled.

Sample Quality

For difficult, clumpy samples, staff will advise on the best method of preparation and may additionally filter samples through 35-40um mesh filters during the sort. For poorly prepared or inherently clumpy samples, researchers will be charged for the time taken to clear blockages, and subject to subsequent bookings, the availability of sorting time may be reduced.

Poorly prepared samples may be rejected from sorting by Platform staff. This includes very clumpy samples that may block and damage the instrument. Poorly prepared samples include those that do not have appropriate controls brought for instrument setup.

Safety of samples

Samples that are of primary human origin, infectious to humans via respiratory transmission, and notifiable low risk dealings (NLRD) GMOs must be reported in Calpendo bookings to aid the operators in determining additional safety precautions that must be taken, and if the facility is suitable for the type of sample requested to be sorted.