Electron Microscopy

Electron Imaging Center for Nanomachines

EICN Procedure for New Users

How can you access the EICN? EICN users can either request a staff expert to image their sample or be trained to operate the electron microscopes themselves. Users who are new to electron microscopy are trained and practice on the T12 and T12 Cryo TEMs. More advanced users are trained to operate the T20, TF20, Titan S/TEM, and Titan Krios. Help with advanced electron microscopy techniques is available upon request. Contact the EICN Associate Technical Director, Ivo Atanasov to see how EICN can assist with your project. 

Create a CNSI Lab Management System (CLMS) account. EICN uses the CNSI Lab Management System (CLMS), a centralized reservation system, to manage reservations for all the instruments. Create a CLMS account here to have access to the system. The CLMS account is subject to approval from CNSI and EICN. Normally, it takes a few days to process a new account request. For further information on CLMS accounts, click here. EICN is not responsible for CLMS functionality, so please address your inquiries and problems directly to CLMS administrators: Jeff Korerat (jkorerat@cnsi.ucla.edu) – For problems involving funding and/or Recharge IDs Paul Babin (pbabin@mednet.ucla.edu) -For technical issues involving CLMS

Complete the EICN Application form. Read EICN’s policies here. Download and sign the EICN User Application, User Agreement, and the EH&S Safety Agreement here. This form must be filled out, signed by the user and PI, and presented to EICN personnel prior to the training session. Please indicate if you are planning to use any dangerous materials at EICN. Users are responsible for providing all permits required by UCLA Environmental Health & Safety in relation to the project the user wants to conduct at EICN. Copies of valid permits should accompany the application form.

Obtain training at EICN. Training is required in order to use EICN equipment. Thereafter, users are permitted to use the facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please email eicnhelp@cnsi.ucla.edu to set an appointment for training. If you do not receive a reply within 48 hours, you can email Matthew Mecklenburg (mmecklenburg@cnsi.ucla.edu) to follow up. We guarantee training within three weeks from your request date. All training sessions are billed using the hourly rates associated with each instrument. Training is not available without a completed EICN Application form.

Additional Information:

• Users are permitted to use the EICN facility after creating a CLMS account, presenting a signed EICN User Agreement and completing training. Using instruments without a reservation on CLMS is not permitted.
• Users must comply with general CNSI and internal EICN policies and be aware of charges related to using EICN.
• Users have equal access to the EICN facility on a first come, first serve basis during normal working hours via CLMS.
• We recommend new users interested in T12 training to watch our short video series on the T12 microscope here: EICN T12 Training Videos. Please note that these videos are meant to be supplementary learning materials and do not replace the official training.

If you acquired data using any of EICN’s instruments, please acknowledge the center in a suitable variation of: “Data was acquired at the Electron Imaging Center for Nanomachines (EICN) at the University of California, Los Angeles’s California for NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).”

The following acknowledgment statement is recommended for data collected through the West/Midwest Consortium: “The authors acknowledge the use of instruments at the Electron Imaging Center for NanoMachines supported by NIH (1S10RR23057, 1S10OD018111 and 1U24GM116792), NSF (DBI-1338135) and CNSI at UCLA.”