2025 Internal User Fees

Special Stains I:

Alacian Blue Special Stain Kit
Congo Red Amyloid Special Stain Kit
Alacian Blue (PAS) Special Stain Kit
Periodic Acid Schiffs (PAS) Special Stain Kit
Modified Perls’ Prussian Blue Iron Special Stain Kit

Special Stains II:

Gomoris Trichrome Green Special Stain Kit
Gomoris Trichrome Blue Special Stain Kit

Policy

The CCBM facility operates as a university recharge center. As such, a fee structure for the use of CCBM instruments has been developed following federal cost accounting principles and the mission, goals and principles of the CCBM and the University of Alabama.

All users must pay for instrument time.

Usage and Reservations

Data Retention

Due to limited hard drive space, CCBM encourages users to remove data from equipment after sessions or as often as possible. CCBM staff will routinely remove old data to free up space and are not responsible for the loss of user data. When possible, notifications regarding data removal will be sent in advance.

Billing Schedule

Billings are sent on a monthly basis to departments. All users and/or their advisors should have CCBM accounts with current billing information.

Disputable Charge

Users may contact the facility coordinator (Emily Davis) to discuss any disputed charge. Any adjustments must be completed within 90 days to comply with the university’s policy.

Reservations

Users must email Emily Davis, ejdavis6@ua.edu, to reserve time on instruments and receive confirmation of their booking. Reservations can only be made in hourly and half-hour time increments.

Flexible Start/End Time

Start/end time is calculated to the second so that you are billed for the actual instrument time you have used.

Extended Usage

If reserved time is extended, the user will be charged according to actual usage.

Unused Reservation

If the user does not show up within 30 minutes after the reserved start time, the reservation will be canceled and another user may use the time period. The user who made the reservation will be charged a $20 no-show/late cancellation fee.

Canceled Reservation

Users will not be charged if a reservation is canceled more than one day (24 hours) before the reserved time begins. Users will be charged the equivalent of one-hour usage if the reservation is canceled within the same day because other users are unable to make reservations when there is a standing one.

Report Forgotten Logouts

If any user finds that the previous user forgot to log out, he/she should report to the facility manager as soon as possible. The facility manager can log the user out via the administrative account. Please note, the current user’s experiment might be interrupted if the previous user logs off while the instrument is being used.

Logbooks

Users are responsible for documenting their time in the appropriate CCBM logbook. The logbook will be used to bill based on hours of equipment usage.

Instrument Downtime

Users will not be charged if the instrument is marked as down, even if he/she has reserved the instrument. Users may also request reset of charge if the instrument experiences issues during their usage.

Report of Equipment Problem

Please report any equipment problems to Emily Davis, either in person or by email, as soon as reasonably possible.