Policies
Instrument reservations
Reservations for CAMI equipment are made through NUCore (https://nucore.northwestern.edu/facilities/cami). This system is used for reserving, logging, and billing instrument time. To use it, you will need to have a user account, be authorized to use at least one valid chart string, and apply to use the instruments you are interested in.
For self-serve instruments, users are responsible for creating/canceling their reservations.
Specific policies for IVIS Spectrum and image analysis workstations
Reservations:
Reservations must be at least 10 minutes long and may be made up to 21 days in advance.
When you arrive at an instrument, you must log into NUCore. These instruments are controlled by relays that will not permit access until your reservation has been activated. Click on your reservation on the instrument calendar to begin using your reserved time, and select the account that will be billed. When you have finished using the instrument, you must log into NUCore and click your reservation again to log off.
If you are experiencing difficulties using NUCore, or if you believe it has not recorded your hours accurately, please notify us soon as possible. please notify CAMI Staff (847-467-3306) as soon as possible.
Cancellations:
If you do NOT cancel a reservation prior to the Cancellation Cutoff Time (currently set to 1 hour prior to the start of their reservation), and do not arrive to start the reservation, then you will be liable for a charge equivalent to the expense required to set up supplies and instrumentation needed for the reservation. The fee will be charged to the chartstring provided when the reservation was placed. This chartstring may be associated with a sponsored project.
Late arrivals:
These instruments are configured in NUCore to automatically cancel an instrument reservation if you do not sign in within 45 minutes of your reservation start time. If you arrive late for a reservation, but within 45 minutes of the scheduled start time, you will be liable for instrument use charges for the interval covered by the reservation start time through the actual end of the reservation.
If you arrive later than 45 minutes past their reservation start time, you will be liable for the setup fee as described above in paragraph #1. You may request a new reservation through NUCore, assuming that this time is available and was not previously reserved by another client.
Specific policies for cell culture room
Reservations:
Reservations must be at least 15 minutes long and may be made up to 21 days in advance.
The cell culture room operates on a reserved-time model; you will be charged for the length of time you reserve in NUCore.
Cancellations:
If you cancel a reservation after the Cancellation Cutoff Time (currently set to 1 hour prior to the start of their reservation), then you will be liable for a charge equivalent to the expense required to set up supplies and instrumentation needed for the reservation. The fee will be charged to the chartstring provided when the reservation was placed. This chartstring may be associated with a sponsored project.
Extra time:
If you remain in the cell culture room past the end of your scheduled time, please contact CAMI staff and we can correct the reservation in NUCore. If another user arrives for their scheduled reservation, you must exit the room promptly.
If you are found to be habitually using the cell culture room outside of a scheduled reservation, you may be blocked from making future reservations at the discretion of CAMI management.
Extenuating circumstances for cancellation
Habitual missed reservations
Clients who habitually reserve time on CAMI instruments and miss appointments may be required to provide a non-sponsored chartstring, where the full charge for the duration of further missed reservations may be charged. In addition, CAMI management may choose to block clients from making future reservations if they do not provide a non-sponsored chartstring to accommodate charges for missed appointments. CAMI management is responsible for determining what constitutes habitual missed appointments for these purposes.
Unattended Sample instrument rates
Both the microCT and the MRI systems have special "unattended sample" rates that apply to samples with long scan times relative to the amount of hands-on staff time required. Specifically, these rates apply to scans that are longer than 2 hours and require 20 minutes or less of hands-on staff time.
In order to prevent very long high-resolution scans from being cost-prohibitive to researchers, CAMI has also implemented an "extended hours" rate. For a single unattended sample with a scan time of greater than 6 hours, the first six hours will be charged at the "extended hours" rate, and the remaining scan time will be charged at a significantly lower rate. Please note that studies utilizing this rate are scheduled subject to scanner availability and cannot supersede experiments running at the standard rate.