Revision as of 14:15, 17 February 2010

Minutes from LMF Advisory Board (LMF AB) meeting, 10.2. 2010, 15.30-17.30, SR1

Present: Ivan Baines, Jussi Helppi, Tony Hyman, Marcus Jahnel, Birgit Knepper-Nicolai, Ilya Leventhal, Andy Oates, Ewa Paluch, Jan Peychl, Johannes Schindelin, Iva Tolic-Nørrelykke, Dan White, Marino Zerial

Overview of the past and present situations by Jan

1. At the beginning of the meeting Jan presented an overview of the work of Light Microscopy Facility in last years:
   • Jan pointed out that in last 5 years LMF saw substantial growth in number of users per year from 182 in 2005 to 257 in 2009 and also in the number of instruments bookable by users from 12 in 2005 to 21 in 2009.
   • Jan also indicated that LMF will get 6 new imaging systems to take care of in 2010. LMF has 4.5 staff positions currently. This means that systems/staff ratio will change from 4.6/1 (2009) to 6/1 in 2010. Users/staff ratio is expected to be the same at 57/1. Jan expressed his worries that if LMF gets even more systems to take care of in the future, it will not be able to help users in timely manner: response time within one or two weeks.
   • Jan showed 4 circles of competence which LMF currently covers:
     • Scientific Support of Imaging Projects
     • Bringing New Imaging Technologies to LMF users
     • Maintenance of existing imaging systems
     • Teaching and Training in light microscopy.

The sausage stand queue analogy

Dan seconded Jan's outlook with his explanation that LMF has reached a situation resulting in longer response time to user’s requests.

• Assuming that the LMF needs to cover all four circles of competence equally.

Feedback from LMF AB stake holders during the meeting

Jan and Dan then asked the members of the LMF AB to express their opinion about what the LMF should prioritise in the future.

1. In the following discussion Iva said that she is happy with the LMF service and said that LMF should get more staff if needed.
2. Marino and Ivan clearly stated that there is currently no way to increase LMF staffing (SAB report etc. recommends against increase in services and facilities staffing numbers).
3. Tony presented his strong opinion about the role of the LMF in the institute.
   • • Tony believes that it is not the responsibility of LMF to teach PhD students "Basics of Microscopy".
     • LMF, in Tony's opinion, should concentrate on scientific support of advanced imaging projects and on bringing cutting edge technologies in house.
     • This opinion seemed to be supported by majority of members of the LMF AB.
     • According to Tony, teaching basics of microscopy as well as maintenance of the instruments should be outsourced as much as possible.
     • Tony mentioned that LMF should use more Hi-Wi students to cover some of the routine tasks.
     • In his point of view, LMF should support only systems which are located in the ground floor area, other systems should be given to the research groups who will take care of them themselves.
     • Tony also thinks that Bio-Rad two photon system and Leica TCS SP2 should be retired soon.
4. Marino said that he likes the idea of having a more “virtual” LMF, helping to run systems which are also installed in home bases (which in fact is the current situation).
5. Ewa said that having access to broad range of imaging systems is essential for her research.
6. Marino brought up the idea that the situation with microscopy support staff could improved if LMF trains selected staff members in the research groups. These persons could then take care of basic maintenance and user introductions to selected systems which are located on home bases.
7. Birgit and Marcus showed that in 2009 LMF taught 5 out of 10 courses offered by the PhD programme.
   • Marcus said that LMF courses are highly appreciated among PhD students, but students would like to have more one – day courses which would cover advanced imaging techniques.
   • Birgit offered to remove 2 weeks of Basic Microscopy Course from the PhD course which takes place every November. LMF would then teach only Principles of Light Microscopy course together with Peter Evennett from RMS.
   • Johanness shared his opinion that we should not underestimate the value of teaching basics of microscopy since it saves people’s time and helps their research in the long run.
8. LMF staff turnover frequency
   • Part of the discussion concentrated on turnover of LMF staff.
   • Tony clearly stated that there has to be turnover of staff in the LMF in order to avoid stagnation and presented the example of the EMBL where maximum length of stay used to be 9 years.
   • Dan said that having turnover of LMF staff is necessary in the long term, we just need to be very careful about frequency of turnover.
   • Jan expressed his strong opinion that having frequency of turnover of LMF staff every 2-3 years kills the performance of LMF since it takes 2-3 years to educate staff members to the level where they become really useful LMF staff members. Jan stated that a turnover frequency of 9 years would be reasonable.
   • Ivan also asked Jan if it helped LMF team if it had more senior staff members with Ph.D. degree instead of junior staff members in order to more efficiently cover scientific support of imaging projects. Ivan also referred to a second hand example where a post doc found that an LMF staff member was not qualified to discuss the scientific details of a project.
   • Dan's answer to this was that having PhD degree is not a measure of the quality of the assistance a person can give at a microscope system, expressed his strong opinion that having well trained microscopy technicians in house is essential for success of microscopy imaging in the MPI-CBG.

Jan suggested that LMF will now stop taking further imaging systems, not already planned for 2010, under its supervision in order to keep maximum system/staff ratio 6/1.

Concluding Actions

1. At the end of the meeting Jan and Dan were then asked by the members of LMF AB to prepare draft of the vision of LMF which will be discussed during next meeting of LMF AB.
2. Jan and Dan expect to have this draft ready by the end of February 2010.

Dresden 15.2. 2010

Jan Peychl & Dan White