News

ULS Newsletter (7th Issue)

The 7th issue of the ULS newsletter has been issued. Please click here to view it online.   The ULS newsletter aims at introducing the latest technologies and innovations in life science, promoting new and existing equipment managed by the ULS, as well as encouraging users and principal investigators to connect with us. We welcome readers to give us comments and suggestions, as we strive to make our contents timely, relevant and interesting.   Thank you very much for your support.

Migration of ULS online booking system to URFMS (3)

ULS has kicked off the migration of the online booking system to University Research Facility Management System (URFMS, https://urfms.polyu.edu.hk/) which is developed and maintained by ITS. The initial stage of migration, which includes Seahorse Analyser, SMZ1270i Fluorescence Stereomicroscope, Promethion Metabolic Cage System, Bruker SkyScan 1276 in vivo microCT scanner, Bio-Rad Bio-Plex 200 Suspension Array System, JASCO J-1500 Circular Dichroism Spectrophotometer and Agena Bioscience MassARRAY Analyzer 4 System, has been completed successfully in April and May 2022. The next phase of migration, which begins in the mid-June, includes the following equipment:   Nikon N-SIM/N-STORM/A1 Super-resolution/Confocal Microscope Zeiss Lightsheet 7 Selective Plane Illumination Microscope Imaris, arivis Vision4D and Zeiss ZEN Cytiva AKTA pure 25 M1 Sartorius BIOSTAT B-twin Fermenter Formulation Laboratory   We have helped to transfer the user data (Equipment access) to the new system. Current users of the above equipment can now log in the system and prepare for the URFMS online account. Once completed simple registration procedures, online booking of the 6 equipment can then be made immediately for any date after 20th June 2022 (Monday). Attached the usage guideline for user and supervisor, respectively.    User Guide-ULS.pdf User Guide for Supervisor.pdf   Below are some highlights of the migration:  User needs to log in the system, agree the Terms and Conditions, add an emergence contact number and seek endorsement from supervisor through the system. Virtual ULS payment account is used for booking instead of a true research funding account, billing will be included in the current ULS monthly invoice. Supervisor needs to approve user registration to the URFMS and agree the Terms and Conditions. Budget allocation and budget top-up is not needed. Supervisor can grant right to a team member to use the virtual ULS payment account but this is optional as this can be helped by ULS staff. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Ryan Chow at 34008057 or hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk.   Thank you for your attention. 

New ULS Equipment - Thermo Scientific SpeedVac SPD410DDA Integrated System

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce that the following equipment is now available for booking.   Thermo Scientific SpeedVac SPD410DDA Integrated System  SpeedVac SPD140DDA is a medium capacity vacuum concentrator used with a wide variety of solvents and offer resistance to TFA, DSMO and other aggressive solvents used in combinatorial chemistry applications.    Please refer to the ULS webpage for further details of the equipment, and contact Dr. Li Rachel (rachel.ws.li@polyu.edu.hk/Tel: 34008056) for any enquiries and for arranging for a training.

Migration of ULS online booking system to URFMS (2)

ULS has kicked off the migration of the online booking system to University Research Facility Management System  (URFMS, https://urfms.polyu.edu.hk/)which is developed and maintained by ITS. The first phase of the migration, which includes Seahorse Analyser and SMZ1270i Fluorescence Stereomicroscope, has been done successfully in April 2022. The next phase of migration, which begins in the end of May, includes the following equipment:   Promethion Metabolic Cage System Bruker SkyScan 1276 in vivo microCT scanner Bio-Rad Bio-Plex 200 Suspension Array System JASCO J-1500 Circular Dichroism Spectrophotometer Agena Bioscience MassARRAY Analyzer 4 System   We have helped to transfer the user data (Equipment access) to the new system. Current ULS users can log in the system from 25th May 2022 (Wednesday) and prepare for the online account. Once completed some simple procedures, online booking of the 5 equipment can then be made immediately for any date after 1st June 2022 (Wednesday). Attached the usage guideline for user and supervisor, respectively.    User Guide-ULS.pdf User Guide for Supervisor.pdf   Below are some highlights of the migration:  User needs to log in the system, agree the Terms and Conditions, add an emergence contact number and seek endorsement from supervisor through the system. Virtual ULS payment account is used for booking instead of a true research funding account, billing will be included in the current ULS monthly invoice. Supervisor needs to approve user registration to the URFMS and agree the Terms and Conditions. Budget allocation and budget top-up is not needed. Supervisor can grant right to a team member to use the virtual ULS payment account but this is optional as this can be helped by ULS staff. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Ryan Chow at 34008057 or hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk.   Thank you for your attention.

Relocation of ULS Office to Z217

Please be informed that the ULS office will be temporarily moved to Z217 with effect from 19th May 2022.  If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our staff.   Thank you for your attention.

Resumption of equipment training

Please be informed that face-to-face equipment training by the ULS will be resumed from 25th April. The following precautionary measures will be enforced:   Our staff will have discretion on the maximum number of participants in each training session All personnel are strictly required to wear a face mask at all times (even when working alone) inside any ULS laboratories Hand sanitisers and ethanol sprays are available in ULS laboratories for sanitising your hands and disinfecting surfaces when necessary   The ULS will continue to monitor the situation and will notify users if there are updates on the arrangements. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our staff.   Thank you for your attention.  

Migration of ULS online booking system to URFMS

The ULS is going to migrate the online booking system to University Research Facility Management System (URFMS) which is developed and maintained by ITS. The first phase of the migration, which includes Seahorse Analyser and SMZ1270i Fluorescence Stereomicroscope, has already been done. Current ULS users can log in the system from 7th April 2022 (Thursday) and prepare for the online account. Once completed some simple procedures, online booking of the 2 equipment can then be made immediately for any date after 11th April 2022 (Monday). Attached the usage guideline for user and supervisor, respectively.  User Guide User Guide for Supervisor Below are some highlights of the migration:  User needs to log in the system, agree the Terms and Conditions, add an emergence contact number and seek endorsement from supervisor through the system. Virtual ULS payment account is used for booking instead of a true research funding account, billing will be included in the current ULS monthly invoice. Supervisor needs to approve user registration to the URFMS and agree the Terms and Conditions. Budget allocation and budget top-up is not needed. Supervisor can grant right to a team member to use the virtual ULS payment account but this is optional as this can be helped by ULS staff. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Ryan Chow at 34008057 or hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk.   Thank you for your attention.

Tightened Measures in Response to Latest Covid Situation

Further to our email on 24th January regarding suspension of face-to-face equipment trainings and in view of the emerging confirmed cases within the PolyU community, the ULS has decided to adopt the following measures with immediate effect: All face-to-face equipment trainings have already been suspended from 24th January ULS staff has adopted work from home arrangement following the University announcements on 3rd and 9th February and our office will remain closed until further notice While our staff would stay alert to calls and emails, face-to-face technical support and meetings may not be entertained If the use of certain equipment requires frequent support from our staff, we may need to suspend access to those equipment temporarily. The staff-in-charge will make further announcements to the affected users The ULS will continue to monitor the situation and may consider more radical measures if the situation continues to worsen (including complete suspension of our equipment). We understand these measures may cause interruptions to your experiments but would like to seek your understanding during such extraordinary time. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our staff. Thank you for your attention.  

Temporary suspension of face-to-face equipment training

In view of the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases, the ULS has decided to impose the following measures with immediate effect: All face-to-face equipment training will be suspended to protect both our users and staff All personnel are strictly required to wear a face mask at all times (even when working alone) inside any ULS laboratories Alcohol-based hand sanitisers and 70% ethanol sprays will be available in ULS laboratories for sanitising your hands and disinfecting surfaces when necessary If users require technical support to operate our equipment, please contact the staff-in-charge well in advance The ULS will be closely monitoring the situation and will notify users when there are updates on the arrangements. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our staff. Thank you for your attention.

ULS Online Seminar - Long-term 3D Live Imaging with Lattice Lightsheet Microscopy

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is co-organising an online seminar with Zeiss on lattice lightsheet microscopy.  The lattice lightsheet technique was developed by the Nobel laureate Eric Betzig (Science 346(6208), 1257998 (2014)) to achieve gentle, high-speed volumetric imaging of cells and small embryos.  The technique uses optical lattices to create ultrathin laser lightsheet to improve axial resolution and has since proved to be a power tool for live imaging.   The online seminar will be held on 27 Jan 2022 (Thu) at 2:30 pm (HKT) via MS Teams.  Please follow this link to enroll by 25 Jan 2022 (Tue): https://www.polyu.edu.hk/pfs/index.php/193922?lang=en.  A meeting link will be sent in a separate email to successful registrants.   Please contact Dr Michael Yuen if you have any queries.  Thank you very much for your attention.