Dear all, On Saturday evening, both the Leica SP8X confocal and the Zeiss710 were on without being used. The laser of the Zeiss was on standby, which means that it has been on since the last user. As argon lasers like the one on Zeiss710 have a limited burning time, this simply is a waste of money. The same is true for the epifluorescence lamps. If you do not use them, turn them off. I hope everyone realizes the benefits from being able to work on the microscopes 24/7. This also implies that when you book it on the weekend and you do not make it, you have the responsibility to make sure to either contact somebody to turn it off or to do this yourself. The same applies for people running a time lapse on the weekend. I do not expect you to come to turn it off in the middle of the night, but I do expect you to turn it off the next day. As this is not the first time this people notify me of confocals being on while not in use, I want to urge everyone to show enhanced responsibility towards our equipment. have fun imaging, d Prof. Dr. ir. Daniel Van Damme - Group leader Advanced Live Cell Imaging VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology Ghent University Technologiepark 927 - 9052 Ghent - Belgium Tel. +32(0)9 331 39 13 [ http://www.psb.ugent.be/ | www.psb.ugent.be ]