FSU Titan Data Collection Policy

FSU Titan Data Collection Policy

Current Working Policy

 

Scheduling

View the calendar for FSU Titan Krios scheduling (https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=bsir.fsu%40gmail.com&ctz=America/New_York).  Contact the manager (dsousa@fsu.edu) to arrange and schedule data collection. 

Prior to scheduling data collection, users need to:

  • Send representative images of their sample.  We need to know what to image.  Please remember, the Titan is for collecting large high quality image data sets and not for screening grids.*
  • Commit to paying for Titan usage (see below for options).

 

Billing

We can simply send you an invoice, setup a purchase order (PO), or in some circumstances setup a contract.  In the case of an invoice, we will need an address to send the invoice to.  In the case of a PO we will need to set this up between our respective fiscal departments.  Contracts are also available, but are generally complex and only warranted for large collaborations involving large amounts of Titan usage and/or service/collaboration work.

 

Fees

Fees are calculated on a per day basist:

SECM4 users – Free (for allotted time)

Internal users - $151.11/hour

External (non-profit) users - $260.00/hour

External (for-profit) users - $333.33/hour

Internal users are anyone who works at FSU or collaborates with someone working at FSU.  To be considered a collaborator, someone working at FSU needs to both have a significant intellectual contribution to the project and be included as an author on any paper resulting from that research.  We can help you arrange collaborations if requested.

 

Prior to Data Collection

Before the day of data collection a few things needs to be done:

  • You need to agree to pay the usage fees in writing (e-mail is fine) and tell us if you will be collaborator with anyone at FSU.
  • You will need to ship your samples to us. 
    • Please send standard round cryo boxes (not square).
    • Please label all cryo boxes and falcon tube strings with sample identifications.
    • Please secure grids in their cryo boxes and cyro boxes in their falcon tubes.  Over half the previous samples sent to us were poorly secured and we have found numerous ‘escaped’ grids and boxes. 
  • You will need to ship external hard drives to us (two 8+ Tb drives / 2 days of data collection).  We recommend any external hard drive of sufficient size with a 2+ year warranty.  They should cost less than $150 each.
  • You will need to have an Appion account setup for viewing images via our website (see below).

 

Shipping

Ship grids, hard drives, etc. to:

BSIR Manager

Florida State University

89 Chieftan Way, Rm 119

Tallahassee, Fl. 32306

 

Viewing your images via the FSU Appion website:

You will need to have an FSU Appion account created.  You will need to give Duncan:

  • A login name for your lab or, if you prefer, login names for each person you want to have separate access.
  • A short name for each project you want to use the Titan for (e.g., Actin Tropomyosin Hextorine Filaments).
  • Which login you want to own which projects.

Once Duncan has setup your account(s), you will be able to login and see images, etc. at:

https://myamiweb.rcc.fsu.edu/myamiweb_rcc

Appion Manual:

http://emg.nysbc.org/redmine/projects/appion/wiki/Appion_Manual

Images Viewer Overview:

http://emg.nysbc.org/redmine/projects/appion/wiki/Common_Features

 

Data Collection

On the day of data collection, staff will clip and load your grids (generally 4 at a time) into the Titan and screen them until they find a good grid to collect data on.  Loading more than 4 grids at once risks losing them all in the rare event of an autoloader failure, but could be done if requested.  During this process you will be able to see the screening images on the website as we collect them.  You will also need to be available to make decisions on what parts of the grid to collect data from.  This can be done via phone (850) 644-6519 or Skype (bsir.fsu).  After a grid has been chosen and data collection parameters decided upon (total dose, camera frame rate, defocus, etc.), we will setup an automated data collection run.  Typically, we can collected ~2,000 images/day or ~40 tomograms/day (not including setup time).  1 day of data collection will result in about 1-3 Tb of data (mostly frames data). 

 

Image Processing

Users are generally responsible for all image processing. Upon request, we will provide you with Direct Electron’s frame alignment scripts.  We can perform some basic image processing at cost (frame alignment, CTF estimation, and particle picking).  The cost for this processing varies with the size of the data set collected and the cost of storage on the FSU RCC Lustre storage system (https://rcc.fsu.edu/pricing).  The cost generally ranges from $100-$500.

 

* – Users are responsible for Titan usage fees regardless of grid quality.  That is, users who provide grids with poor ice condition, poor particle distribution, etc. will still be responsible for paying the Titan usage fees.  Staff and Titan time spent clipping, loading, and screening grids is the same regardless of whether good data can be collected.