Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Light Microscopy
Facility Access Policy
Facility provides an open non-discriminatory access to our instrumentation and expertise both to internal and external users.
User registration is required to use the instrumentation and computing resources of the Facility. By registering, users gain access to:
Resources and Services provided by the Facility in the IMG Calpendo booking system
Workstations for the control of the microscopy systems
Desktop workstations for data processing and analysis, primarily used for interactive access to virtual workstations.
Virtual workstations (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure – VDI), equipped with a wide range of open-source and professional software packages for offline image data processing and analysis. VDI is accessible both from the IMG network and remotely.
Huygens Remote Manager, which enables configuration and batch processing of image deconvolution jobs on a dedicated high-performance server with a Huygens Core computing machine.
“VDI upload” storage, used for temporary storage of image data before uploading it to “VDI scratch” storage. Data on “VDI upload” is accessible in read-write mode from the IMG network and remotely but is not backed up.
“VDI scratch” storage, intended for short-term storage of live work data and its processing using virtual workstations. Data on VDI scratch is accessible in read-write mode only from virtual workstations and is not backed up.
“VDI data” storage, designated for long-term storage of image data. Data stored on VDI data is accessible in read-write mode only from virtual workstations and is backed up. Only internal users are allowed to store data long-term in this repository.
Remote access to VDI upload, VDI scratch, and VDI data repositories via Globus services (node: vdi.img.cas.cz), allowing data downloads and uploads to the VDI infrastructure.
Facility registration may involve receiving of automated and other e-mails regarding the operation of the Facility and equipment. Registered user cannot unsubscribe from these e-mails.
New external users who do not have an IMG account and access to the IMG Calpendo booking system must register using this registration form to gain access to the Facility services. A user account will be created for them in the img.cas.cz identity management system (IMG account) and registration to the Facility will be performed.
Internal users and external users who already have an IMG account and access to the IMG Calpendo booking system must register the Facility directly in the booking system, as described in the instructions for registering a facility in the booking system. The user can cancel the registration at any time.
International users are kindly requested to apply via the Euro-BioImaging access portal and when filling in the access proposal, click on the Czech Republic on the map and select “Advanced Light and Electron Microscopy Node Prague CZ” of which we are a part. More information about access via Euro-Bioimaging ERIC can be found here.
If you are not sure about the choice of the facility or the availability of the particular technology, you can use the Czech-BioImaging access portal or contact us directly.
Facility is a part of the National Infrastructure for Biological and Medical Imaging – Czech-BioImaging. It provides subsidized “open access” to the users from academic institutions based on project registration in the “Czech-Bioimaging open access” program. Personal data is processed during the use of Czech-BioImaging research infrastructure services, especially open access, educational activities and conferences (information regarding the processing of personal data).
Usage of facility instrumentation is the subject of billing. See Price list for more information.
Facility instrumentation is mostly self-operated.
Unless specifically trained by the Facility staff, users are not allowed to operate Facility equipment. User must have all appropriate trainings in order to make self-operated bookings for independent use of Facility instrumentation.
During working hours (8:00 – 18:00), on demand technical assistance is available if help or further consultation is needed.
We provide assisted equipment sessions for short or one-time experiments for first time users or if new technique is introduced.
We provide the possibility to perform free of charge pilot experiment for newly introduced techniques. Contact facility staff if needed.
External user can obtain access to the Facility after hours. Access is given only to experienced users and must be approved by facility manager. Access is given on request only, not automatically. To obtain IMG security badge, which allows after-hours access to the Facility, please apply request to helpdesk@img.cas.cz.
