The Electron Microscopy/ Histology Core Director and staff are committed to the mission of providing high quality ultrastructural analysis at an affordable cost to research investigators at Augusta University and external biomedical research facilities. The following paragraphs describe the policies that have been adopted to accomplish that mission.
We encourage all users, but particularly new users, to contact the staff to discuss the objectives and requirements of the ultrastructural studies they intend to conduct before embarking on those studies. The Core is well equipped to provide ultrastructural analysis of biological material and the Core staff has many years of experience. During the initial consultation the staff and investigator will discuss the investigator's objectives, the respective responsibilities of the investigator and the staff in accomplishing the work, the methods to be used, a time frame in which the ultrastructural results could be completed and the potential cost of the studies. We like to customize each study to meet the specific needs of each investigator.
As a full service facility the Core provides investigators with 4 staff members with more than 30 years’ experience in histology and electron microscopy. We are here to provide you with excellent technical assistance and customer service. The Core's services are most productive when there is frequent and candid communication between investigator and the Core staff.
We will accept animal and human tissue samples, excluding human brain tissues and unfixed human materials, provided that the tissues have been fixed for a minimum of 24 hours using a ratio of 1:3 of tissue per fixative. Please contact us if you have any questions.
We reserve the right to reject samples that are not fixed appropriately as this poses a hazard to our core staff.
Instrumentation in the Core is sophisticated, expensive and in most cases the only equipment of its type at Augusta University. To protect the department's investment in the facility and to insure the Core can provide its services to the entire research community, use of the facilities and equipment is restricted to Core staff.
The Core is required to charge fees to recover the cost of providing its services. Our fees are among the lowest charged by any similarly equipped or supported facility in the nation. We have three fee schedules 1) Augusta University affiliated faculty, 2) non-Augusta University affiliated academic faculty, 3) non-academic or commercial fees. Fees are routinely reviewed by the Core Director and staff and the institution and adjusted as necessary. Investigators receive a copy of our fees during the initial consultation and an estimate of cost of services each time specimens are submitted to the Core.
