The facility runs on a full cost-recovery model, which means we have to charge users for using our instruments to pay for consumables, service contracts, and staff salaries.
From the 1st of April 2023 the prices are as follows:
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Flow cytometry facility – School of the Biological Sciences – list of prices |
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Cell Sorters |
Analysers |
Free-of-charge services |
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Aria III and Discover S8 |
Aria IIu |
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Period |
Core-hours* |
Outside core-hours |
Outside core-hours |
24/7 |
24/7 |
24/7 |
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Type of sessions** |
Assisted, training, and autonomous sessions |
Assisted and training sessions |
Autonomous sessions |
Assisted and training sessions |
Autonomous sessions |
Assisted, training, and autonomous sessions |
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University of Cambridge’s users |
£88/h |
£88/h |
£44/h |
£88/h |
£44/h |
£33/h |
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External (commercial) users |
£176/h | £176/h | n/a | £176/h | n/a | £77/h | |
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*Core hours: 10h-17h, Monday to Friday. **In Assisted sessions on the cell sorters a member of the facility will run the cell sorter. On the analysers a member of the facility will stay with the user during the entire session for supervision and will help run the samples. In Autonomous sessions the user will operate the instrument independently, either an analyser or a cell sorter (applicable to the Arias only). |
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Booked time vs real-time usage
All booked sessions are adjusted with real usage. The real usage is detected because we installed a tracker that connects to the booking system PPMS in all the flow cytometers workstations. The tracker will lock the workstation screen and to unlock it users need to type their PPMS credentials. The tracker will report back to PPMS the user’s activity every minute until the user clicks the logout button that will lock the screen again.
To maximise instrument usage the booked sessions are adjusted with real usage. That means, for example, if you book 3 hours on an analyser, and come 1 hour late you will be charged the full 3 hours even if you only used 2h. And if you book 3 hours and use 4 you will be charged 4 hours.
We know, however, that experiments not always run according to plan and you might be late to come and use the instrument. For that reason, we allow users to move the session on the same day without penalty. If you know you will be late, log into PPMS, click on your session and cancel it. Then re-book it at an appropriate time.
Keep in mind that a session is defined by the length of time. For example, a user who booked from 14h to 16h (2 hours) can move it 15h to 17h and will have no penalties. If the user moves it to 15h until 16h, the user will be charged 1h at 50% (unless someone else uses it) because the new session is one hour shorter.
It is also good practice to adjust your booking if you know you will be late because that will free up time on the instruments that one of your colleagues can book.
Cancellations
There is a penalty for sessions that are cancelled too late and not rescheduled. On the analysers, there is a minimum of 12 hours and on the cell sorters a minimum of 24 hours to cancel a booking without a penalty fee. Late cancellations are charged 50% of the hourly rate.
The reason we created a charging penalty is to make sure users are not making multiple bookings and not using them.
More information about the charge rates, cancellation policy, and booking requests can be found on PPMS (user account required).