Updates for CEMAS phased restart of operations

Posted: 

Update (6/25/20): Updates for Stage 3 Restart of Operations

The Ohio State University has moved to a new stage of restarting on-campus research labs. While we recognize that many are eager to return, ensuring the health and safety of our visitors remains our top priority and responsibility.

In accordance with the Office of Research’s Staged Approach to Returning to On-Campus Research, the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis is currently in Stage 3.

On Monday, June 22, CEMAS initiated Stage 3 where limited research activity is allowed with 25% or less of normal occupancy at any time. We are also continuously putting appropriate COVID-19 precautions in place as approved by the Office of Research and College of Engineering restart taskforces.

During Stage 3:

  1. CEMAS staff will be available to collect data for users and provide a zoom video conference so that the researchers will have the ability to “virtually” direct their experiments to ensure efficient data collection;  
  2. Experienced graduate students, post-docs and research scientists/faculty will have access to help facilitate research projects for the CEMAS user base.

We ask for your patience as our protocols continue to evolve.  We will keep you informed as we progress through the phased restart. During these upcoming weeks, we are striving to improve both our research capacity, as well as our safety practices to permit more users to access CEMAS.  Office of Research has indicated that Stage 4 will start no earlier than July 13th.  This stage will allow us to increase from 25% to 50% occupancy. 

Since no more than one person will be allowed in a microscope room at any time, training of new users will not be possible in Stage 2 or 3.  We are working to determine a solution for this.  

Please contact your CEMAS representative or cemas@osu.edu for more information on how we can productively advance your research during this time.

Update (6/4/20): Message from Director McComb

David McComb, the director of Ohio State’s Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis, shared the following message with CEMAS users. 

CEMAS Users, 

We hope you are doing well and continue to navigate these unusual times safely. The Office of Research, College of Engineering, and CEMAS have been working diligently to allow research operations to resume in a safe and healthy way. In Stage 1 of this plan, only COVID-19 related research was permitted. On Monday 1st June, CEMAS initiated Stage 2 where limited research activity is allowed with 10% or less of normal occupancy at any time. We are also putting appropriate COVID-19 precautions in place as approved by the Office of Research and College of Engineering research restart taskforces.*      

Starting June 1st: 
CEMAS staff re-starting equipment, putting measures in place for safe operation, and developing procedures for opening prep labs.  

Starting June 8th:

  1. CEMAS staff will be available to collect data for users and provide a zoom video conference so that the researchers will have the ability to “virtually” direct their experiments to ensure efficient data collection;  
  2. Experienced post-docs and research scientists/faculty will have access to help facilitate research projects for the CEMAS user base;
  3. Scheduling will be directly coordinated with the instrument managers as we determine the best practice;   
  4. We can only work on “Microscope-Ready” samples, until the prep labs protocols are in place; 
  5. We will post a method for sample delivery on the website. If the sample needs to be retrieved from Suite 186 you may contact any of the Stage 2 personnel. Alternatively, you may request one-time access to retrieve the sample (contact Amanda Ponomarenko).  

We ask for your patience as our protocols continue to evolve. We will keep you informed as we progress through the phased restart. During these upcoming weeks, we are striving to improve both our research capacity, as well as our safety practices to permit more users to access CEMAS. Office of Research has indicated that Stage 3 will start no earlier than Jun 22nd. This stage will allow us to increase from 10% to 25% occupancy. 

Since no more than one person will be allowed in a microscope room at any time, training of new users will not be possible in Stage 2 or 3. We are working to determine a solution for this.  

Please continue to take care of yourself and those around you.  

 We also encourage everyone to take advantage of Ohio State's wellness resources:

  • Faculty and staff can use the Human Resources Keep Well website, the Chief Wellness Officer Health and Wellness page and Your Plan For Health.
  • ​Students can use the Counseling and Consultation Service (CCS) and the Buckeye Peer Access Line (PAL), which operates Monday through Thursday from 8 p.m. to midnight, and Friday from 2 to 6 p.m.
  • CCS also provides guidance for ways for faculty and staff to support students.
  • The Ohio State: Wellness app is designed for students but offers tips and guidance useful for all members of our community. It is available for Android and iOS devices.

 

Update (4/6/20): CEMAS virtual services

CEMAS will remain closed until further notice. Though our physical facilities are closed for the moment, our commitment to advancing your research and education continues virtually. Please use any of the following methods to connect with us. We look forward to continuing to serve you during this time.

1. Attend a "Beyond the Scope: CEMAS Discussion Series" Webinar

Held on Wednesday afternoons via Zoom, these webinars focus on a variety of topics to advance your research using CEMAS instrumentation and techniques. For more information, check out our Events page: https://cemas.osu.edu/events

2. Schedule a one-on-one consultation 

Members of our team of experts are available for individual meetings via Zoom. Reach out to any of the individuals below to schedule.

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)

Cyro-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM)

Micro Computed Tomography (microCT)

X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)

Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (microED)

Biological Sample Preparation

Other electron microscopy techniques

3. Limited remote connection to data analysis computers

Please contact cemas@osu.edu if interested.

Additionally, a number of companies are providing temporary licenses for their software free of charge to help you keep your research progressing:

Avizo/Amira
Please contact cemas@osu.edu if interested.

Gatan
With many people working from home due to COVID-19, Gatanis offering a limited-time version of GatanMicroscopy Suite®(GMS) 3.4.1 that allows for the offline-installation of EELS Analysis, EDS Analysis, and EFTEM Analysis, until June 1, 2020, at no additional cost. These licenses may be combined with existing commercial GMS offline licenses and/or the freely available offline licenses from the Gatan website (e.g., In-Situ viewer).

Velox
Velox is offering free offline licenses (6 month) to support customers who find themselves working from home. They will need to email the Velox team directly in order to request the license: velox@thermofisher.com. The installation file along with a form for requesting the license is also available at https://www.fei-software-center.com/tem-apps/velox-download-page/

Additional software will be added here as it is made available.                                                                                      

Update (4/3/20): CEMAS's physical office will remain closed until May 4. We will continue to follow the guidance of Ohio State leadership and monitor developments to determine when it is safe to reopen. However, we will remain accessible to researchers virtually.
 

David McComb, the director of Ohio State’s Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis, announced new measures to protect students, faculty, staff, and all individuals associated with CEMAS in response to the international viral outbreak of 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19). 

To minimize risk, and to follow recommendations made by the Office of Research, which are consistent with University, State, and Federal policies, CEMAS will close access in a two-step process. 

The procedure enacted by CEMAS follows the process outlined by the Institute for Materials Research and participating center leadership.

McComb issued an update to the CEMAS research community on Monday that summarized the two-step process. The details are as follows:

Dear CEMAS Research Community, 

After extensive discussions with University leadership, it has been decided to close several core facilities, including CEMAS, to protect the health and safety of all users and staff. Full details are outlined in the message from Professor Ringel (Institute for Materials Research), but to summarize:

Step 1:
  • a) Access to CEMAS will be immediately suspended, and all FOB access will be deactivated. For all Principal Investigators using these facilities, please email me with the name(s) of up to 2 researchers (yourself can be included) per your group to ensure your FOB access will be immediately reinstated and maintained through 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 17. This will allow you to ramp down and secure your experiments before that deadline.   
  • b) If, for some reason, you have a serious challenge with this timing (e.g., you and your group are out of town; there is a safety reason for a brief time extension), please email me. 
Step 2:
  • After 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, all access will be temporarily revoked, with the exception of facility staff members, lab directors and leadership, and resident faculty members at CEMAS. This will allow each facility to ramp down to a maintained standby state. 

Again, please understand that I do understand the implications of this action. However, the health and safety of us all is our priority and I ask for your orderly cooperation with the implementation of this process, which is consistent with the University guidelines.

Sincerely,
David McComb
Director of CEMAS

The university launched a website with information about the coronavirus. Additional updates, specifically involving CEMAS, will be available at cemas.osu.edu as we learn more.