Dear microscopists, unfortunately we had again an accident with an objective lens, this time it was the high NA 25x lens used for in vivo imaging. It's the second time in the last few months we had problems with objective lenses, each time resulting in high repair costs and considerable losses of time and money to users for missed experiments. On top of this, we also regularly come across lenses completely encrusted with immersion oil or worse. On this occasion, I need to remind everybody on the importance of being extremely careful with the microscopes and in particular the objective lenses. Specifically: - do not move lenses around; whenever you need any specific setup of lenses (or any other parts, like filter cubes), always request it well in advance through our HARDWARE REQUEST page on Sharepoint, so FILM staff can get it ready by the time you go to the microscope; it's easy for you, and the best way to minimise any risk of damage; this applies to ALL microscopes and ALL users! <https://sharepoint.ic.ac.uk/FoM/NHLI/Facilities/FILM/Lists/FILM%20Hardware%20requests1/FILM%20Hardware%20Requests%202.aspx> - when you struggle to find the focus, start focussing with a low-magnification (e.g. 10x) objective at the edge of the coverslip, then change the objective; and looking at the objective from the side, move it close to the sample (being careful not to move into the sample), then look down the eyepiece and slowly focus AWAY from the sample until you find the focus - be very careful not to get any liquid onto lenses other than immersion oil or water only on specified objective lenses, not air lenses - motorised stages can be very dangerous for objective lenses, so be very careful that they don't move over them and damage them; the (software) design of microscopes unfortunately doesn't always help, so don't forget to move lenses out of the way when you restart software or microscope stands, move to XY / Z '0' etc. - finally, but very importantly: if anything goes wrong, REPORT IT!! It's unlikely that anyone deliberately destroys microscopes, but reporting can avoid further problems, which could be drying liquids corroding the equipment, slight damages getting worse, or other users wasting time and money on experiments they can't complete. Thanks everybody for your collaboration, the facility depends on it. Good imaging, Martin -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Martin Spitaler, PhD* *FILM - Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy* - Facility Manager - Sir Alexander Fleming Building, desk 401 Imperial College London / South Kensington Exhibition Road London SW7 2AZ UK Tel. +44-(0)20-759-42023 E-mail m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk <mailto:m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk> Website: http://imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility