University of Edinburgh Researchers

Our training programme is available for all internal and visiting university researchers wishing to access our resources.

This programme is accessible through our online booking system, but before registering, it is important for potential users to understand the workflows we have in place to ensure that they are given the correct access to the equipment and that their training record is up to date. 

We have produced a training workflow to assist users with what they need to do at each stage and what to expect from us.

New user workflow (250.3 KB PDF)

We have 3 standard user levels:

• Trainee: can only book through facility staff

• Novice: limited to Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm with QFCf staff supervision. 
• Autonomous: fully trained users will have 24/7 access.  Not available to all users, please refer to workflow for more details on this.

To progress through the user levels, attendance at the following training sessions are mandatory:

• Introductory Training session  (usually last Wednesday of the month) 

  • Theory: principles of flow cytometry: lasts about 1-1.5h.  There is no charge for this session but attendance is mandatory before access to any facility instrument is given.  

• Instrument Training
  • Practical: basics of using the instrument, start up/shutdown: 30 minutes.  This will provide novice access to specific instrument only.  There is no charge for this session when attending a multiuser session. However, one to one training, linked to a first assisted session will incur a charge at normal rates.
• Assisted session
  • User Specific: setting up the machine for your cells of interest: requires at least 1.5 hours depending on panel.  Samples are required for this.  Please give as much advance notice as possible to ensure we can allocate sufficient time to help.  Multiple assisted sessions are common when working up a flow cytometry panel.  We also offer these to established users when setting up for a new experiment.
• Supervised session
  • Researcher sets up their template, while following the instruction manual, with assistance as required.  The number of supervised sessions to achieve autonomous status is user dependent.

Once facility staff deem the researcher is competent then the user account will be updated to allow access 24/7 to the facility, subject to QMRI access levels.

For autonomous University users based outwith the QMRI, please contact the facility manager if you require out of hours access.

How to register with our online booking system (secured)

How to register with our online booking system: Visiting Researchers ONLY

Further facility information, including costings, applicable to internal users (secured)