Terms of Service
BIH Core Unit pluripotent Stem Cells and Organoids

Valid from 24.05.2024

These Terms govern your access to and use of BIH Core Unit pluripotent Stem Cells and Organoids (CUSCO) services and equipment. Our Services are offered subject to your acceptance, without modification, of all the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, and procedures that may be published from time to time by us. You agree that we may automatically upgrade our Services, and the Agreement will apply to any upgrades. Please read the Agreement carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to become bound by the Agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms of the Agreement, then you may not access or use our Services.

Your Account

The use of our Services requires an account in the openIRIS system (https://iris.charite.de), hence, you agree to provide us with complete and accurate information when you register for an account and keep the information current. This is important because sometimes we may need to send you notable updates. You will be solely responsible and liable for any activity that occurs under your account. You are responsible for keeping your account information up-to-date and for keeping your password secure. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account and any other actions taken in connection with our Services. You shall not share or misuse your access credentials. You must immediately notify us of any unauthorized uses of your account or of any other breach of security. We will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result ofsuch acts or omissions. Your account will be active for one year and can then be prolonged. 

In addition, the following must be observed before the account is created:

1. Before use, a free consultation must take place to assess the need and scope.
2. Project-related support must be submitted using a project registration in openIRIS and include project title, description of the expected services, and the client.
3. Access to the Infrastructure and Services of CUSCO is approved only to the Users who have registered their projects and themselves as USERS via openIRIS system and receive the specific introduction by the CUSCO personnel.

Following account activation, you as a CUSCO user, agree to adhere to the following obligations:

1. with the regulations of the user rules and the specific laboratory and equipment rules (see Service and Equipment).
2. to attend the annual safety instructions for the necessary laboratory safety levels.
3. to strictly follow the instructions of the CUSCO staff in the CUSCO rooms and when using the equipment.
4. to make the CUSCO staff aware of the existence of safety risks related to the experimental material (e.g., pathogenic, infectious, toxic, or radioactive properties or according to Biostoffverordnung (BioStoffV)).
5. if necessary, to provide evidence of corresponding notifications and approvals (here in particular the approval of the genetic engineering experiments to be carried out or experiments on animals or humans, if necessary, with the approval of the ethics committee) of research projects and experiments. Patient data are to be handled by the user in compliance with the relevant data protection regulations and are to be handed over to CUSCO exclusively in anonymized form.
6. any work with genetically modified organisms (according to Gentechnikgesetz (GenTG)) is only allowed after a prior approval with the CUSCO director.
7. if necessary, authorize CUSCO to perform the experiments.
8. Operate the equipment and perform the experiments only after the instruction of CUSCO staff.

Service and equipment

Within the framework of its available capacities, the CUSCO performs the following services in particular:

• Project consultation and support
• Isolation of primary cells from patient material
• Reprogramming of cells into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)
• Banking, characterization, and quality control of hPSCs
• Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas
• Establishment of differentiation protocols
• Provision of cells differentiated from hiPSCs
• Establishment of methods for organoid generation and analysis
• Provision of hiPSC reference cell lines
• Provision of reagents
• Provision of infrastructure and equipment
• Training

In addition, CUSCO manages access to and supports, the shared equipment (specific equipment available is listed in openIRIS).

Equipment managed by CUSCO is available to all CUSCO registered users. By accepting these Terms of Service, the users agree to adhere to the following rules of the equipment use:

1. Equipment access and training must be requested through openIRIS. Approval of access will be granted only to the users that completed the training.
2. All equipment available at CUSCO must be booked through openIRIS before use. Use of equipment without booking is strictly forbidden.
3. Equipment booking expires 30 min after the booking time has begun if the user is not present, but usage fees will apply.
4. In case the use time exceeds the booking time, additional time must be booked in openIRIS.
5. Bookings can be made up to a maximum of 14 days before planned use. Cancellation of a booking can be made up to 24 hours before the start of the booked period. Cancellations made after this time may result in usage fees if no other user books this period.
6. Note that repeated absence during booked time, use of device without booking and/or misuse of equipment will result in user access cancellation.
7. Users are responsible for immediate removal of data from the CUSCO computers. CUSCO is not responsible for data storage and safety. All data older than four weeks will be automatically deleted from the PCs without further notice.
8. It is not allowed to store any kind of data anywhere else on the CUSCO computers other than in the respective directories. All data in other locations (for example on the desktop) will be deleted without further notice.
9. Equipment manuals and accessories must remain with the respective device at any time (PDFs of manuals can be provided on request by CUSCO).
10. In case of a device malfunction, the CUSCO personnel must be immediately informed. Error messages must be copied or documented by a screenshot and uploaded as an “issue” through openIRIS.
11. Cells provided to the user must not be shared with other users or researchers outside of the core facility or without consent of the head of CUSCO.

Liability

All users are liable according to the legal regulations. This applies in particular to damage caused by failure to comply with the obligations incumbent on the users, by non-clarification of security risks or by non-compliance with binding instructions issued by the staff. The responsibility for the quality of the incoming material or incoming data of a project lies with the user.

The liability of CUSCO towards users is limited to intent and gross negligence. The CUSCO do not assume any warranty for the test material.

Genetically modifies organisms (GMO)

Regulations regarding working with and handling genetically modified organisms or materials containing genetically modified organisms are described in the Federal Republic of Germany by the Genetic Engineering Act (Gentechnikgesetz-GenTG).

All users requesting genetically modified material or genetic modification of iPSCs (Service: genetic modification) and/or bringing and working with genetically modified organisms in the CUSCO facility are required to inform the CUSCO personnel about such work and provide a copy of the official permission and registration of the genetic engineering facility / laboratory.

For Charité internal regulations see: https://intranet.charite.de/biosicherheit/startseite/ 

Publications

Users are obliged to take due account of the work of CUSCO in publications following the generally accepted rules of scientific practice:

1. In principle, any external work, e.g., the work of CUSCO, must be identified at the appropriate points in scientific work, e.g., in the material and method part. The payment of fees or charges resulting from service does not replace the corresponding labelling of technical or scientific work.
2. Depending on the scope and complexity of the work or in the case of corresponding collaboration agreements, the CUSCO or individual employees must be considered by mentioning them in the acknowledgment[1] or within the framework of a co-authorship. Co-authorship of CUSCO scientists usually requires a scientific contribution that goes far beyond the mere performance of experiments or analyses.
3. The CUSCO should be notified before submission of the publication. If necessary, the corresponding files must be made available for inspection beforehand. Also, a copy of the publication in electronic form must be sent to the head of CF Stem Cells after publication.
   
   

Exclusion and restriction of use

In particular, the approval for use may be refused, revoked, or further restricted if

1. no proper application has been submitted
2. the information in the application is not or is no longer correct
3. a fixed usage fee is not paid
4. the regulations for use, the specific laboratory and equipment rules or instructions of CUSCO staff are violated
5. CUSCO is not mentioned or adequately considered in publications according to chapter „Publications“.

The user is not entitled to claims for damages due to the refusal, revocation, or subsequent limitation of admission.

Service Catalogue / Usage Fees

• The fees to be paid by the users for CUSCO services can be found in the current list of fees. Special rates apply to external users.
• For projects regarding technology or method development, including feasibility studies, within the framework of a cooperation, the prices can be reduced or, in exceptional waived at CUSCO staff discretion. Co-authorships of CUSCO staff are expected to be considered in the resulting publications according to their scientific or technical contributions.
• The user fees are charged after receipt of the services. In the case of internal customers, this is done via internal service charging (interne Leistungsverrechnung, ILV). External users always receive an invoice.
• Project leaders can request user fees for funding applications (in DFG applications under the item „Requested other costs“, CUSCO is registered in the DFG Database). The team of CUSCO will be available to assist you with the appropriate cost estimation during the application phase.
• CUSCO reserves the right to issue a partial charge on the failed services. Due to underlying biological limitations, CUSCO is unable to always guarantee the success of the following services:

• Reprogramming
• Genome editing
• Differentiation

CUSCO staff guarantees to perform necessary experimental steps to fulfil the service request. However, in an unlikely event of the service failure, the number of further attempts will be limited as defined by individual service descriptions and the services will be continued only after an explicit confirmation from the User. The user agrees to the payment of charges according to the steps completed by CUSCO in the attempts to fulfil the service.

è The current list of fees is attached as Appendix 3.

Severability clause and validity of the user regulations

The user regulations are binding for all users of CUSCO. Agreements beyond the scope of these Terms of Service are made with external users and must be issued in writing. The Terms of Service are valid in the respective version without limitation until they are replaced by an updated version.

Contact

Director: Dr. Harald Stachelscheid

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

BIH Core Unit pluripotent Stem Cells & Organoids

Cranach Haus

Augustenburger Platz 1

13353 Berlin

(Visitors: Föhrer Straße 15)

Email: CUSCO@bih-charite.de

Appendix 1:  Specific rules for equipment use

MACSQuant VYB:

• Users must use personal accounts. Account sharing is not allowed.
• Personal account will be assigned immediately after user introduction.
• Calibration of the machine is performed by the CUSCO personnel once a month.

  MACSQuant Tyto FACS Sorter:

  • Users must use personal accounts. Account sharing is not allowed.
  • Workspace set-up and advanced training cannot be provided by CUSCO and must be requested by the user to Miltenyi directly. CUSCO only provides access to the Sorter, an account, and general recommendations for equipment use.
  • Accessories, like Tyto magnet for cartridge load, must be used at CUSCO lab. It is strictly forbidden to remove equipment from CUSCO lab space.
  • No gloves are permitted when working with the system.
  • The computers operating this equipment must not be switched off.  It is critical for the instrument operation that the computers stay active.
  •  Use of the computer for applications other than device control is not allowed.
  • The use of USB storage devices is prohibited.
  • must be trained in the operation of the unit by an experienced user. After this training, CUSCO staff will evaluate the ability of the user to operate the unit properly   and permit access.
  • Measurement data must be transferred to the Columbus server (http://columbus.charite.de) or OMERO Server (https://omero.charite.de) immediately after the measurement and removed from the measurement computer.

    Leica inverted Microscope (User Lab):

  • Data must be saved in a folder named after the group/username in the following location:
    “Dieser PC > Dokumente > Folder [Group Name] > [ username]”
• Data must be saved in a folder named after the group/username in the following location:
  “D:> cap_0.5.1.4182005e > folder [username]”

  QuantStudio 6:

• Data must be saved in a folder named after the group/username in the following location: “D:\Users\Public\Documents\QuantStudio Real-Time PCR software\experiments\[Group Name]\[user name]”

  Opera Phenix, Operetta and Columbus Server

• All image data should be moved immediately after acquisition to the central OMERO Server (https://omero.charite.de) of the Charité

Picking hood Microscope (User Lab):

• Data must be directly saved in external source (USB stick) and/or deleted immediately from the computer hard disk after transfer.

Chromium Controller

• Only the use of the Controller and accessories ad-hoc are allowed (chip holder and vortex with adaptor for beads rack).
• Accessories must be used at CUSCO lab; it is not allowed to move them somewhere else.

Molecular biology work bench rules

• Molecular biology bench must be booked via openIRIS when Chromium Controller is used.
• This bench is reserved for single cell experiments. Cryostat

• It is mandatory to clean up the device after use with ethanol 80% as it was instructed during the training. Remnants of embedding medium can damage the device.

   

  Leica LSM SP8

• Use of the computer for applications other than device control is not permitted.
• The use of USB storage devices is prohibited.
• All image data should be moved immediately after acquisition to the central OMERO Server (https://omero.charite.de) of the Charité

INCUCYTE – User rules 

• It is mandatory to receive training from CUSCO. Training can be booked using OpenIris. 
• Only the use of a personal account is allowed. 
• Incucyte software can be downloaded in every Charité PC (instructions will be provided during the training). If needed the Working station (ground floor, room 0.0134) can be used to schedule experiments. It is not permitted to use other CUSCO computers. 
• Incucyte use is allowed only during booked time slots. Booking has to be scheduled using OpenIris. 
• Booking is mandatory for the whole time of experiment/the plates are in the Incucyte.  
• ONly 2 concurrent bookings are possible. Each booking allows the use of 2 (out of 6) Incucyte plate-positions (i.e. 1 user = 1 booking slot = 2 positions of the tray).  
• 2 (out of 6) spots of the tray are reserved for single scannings (“Scan now” acquisition type). Therefore, those 2 spots HAVE to be free and only used during the single scan (limited time - single time). 
• Each booking (up to 2 plates) can use a schedule of a maximum of 30 minutes duration per hour.  
• It is mandatory to leave every 3 hours 1 slot of 30 minutes free for spontaneous measurements   
• Do book your slots time ahead (preferably 1 week) to avoid undesirable overlapping between users. Booking can be cancelled until 1 hour before it starts (please contact CUSCO member if needed). Booking cancel within 1 hour prior starting will be charged. 
• Plate loading has to be done carefully and holding the tray from below. 
• You HAVE to remove your plate after the experiment has finished and delete the acquisition schedule from the Software to allow next measurement. If plate is abandoned (no openIRIS booking visible), CUSCO will discard it without further notice. 
• If you notice before starting your experiment that water in the incubator is missing or any other anomaly (not signaled by alarm) please contact a CUSCO member. 
• Data will be deleted every 2 months. During this time you can analyze and archive your data after downloading.  
• Data export to the ImageArtist server is possible. Please contact CUSCO member to learn how to proceed. 
• Do not set for acquisition empty wells, focus will not be found and the whole scanning may stop.  

Appendix 2:  Specific rules for use Cell culture labs

• It is mandatory to book cell culture safety cabinet in openIRIS before use. In case the use time exceeds the booking time, additional time must be booked in openIRIS.
• Use of PPE (lab coat and gloves) is mandatory in the cell culture labs.
• User responsibilities:

è Refill general consumables, for example: 80% ethanol, paper tissues, glass pipettes, plastic material, etc.

è Dispose of trash as indicated during lab introduction (white bins, yellow glass containers, already full trash bags).

è Empty liquid waste (vacuum container).

è Inform CUSCO personnel if reagents or consumables are running out (use the white board outside of the cell culture room to leave notices).  Provide enough time before the material is completely consumed.

è Inform CUSCO personnel if any issue with equipment or space is encountered.

è Keep safety cabinets, incubators, water bath and general space clean.

è Re-fill water in incubator if needed using deionized autoclaved water (red cap bottles).

è Only pipette tips with filter are allowed in the cell culture safety cabinets. Please store only one box of pipette tips per size for each bench and make sure they are closed properly when removed from the safety cabinet.

• It is not allowed to stock a large number of aliquots of reagents from the user projects in the fridge/freezer of the user lab. Keep only what is needed in the space assign to you for a month. Space is limited.
• All reagents, plates, boxes, etc. must be properly and clearly labelled. The label must include: the Group, Initials and Date. CUSCO personnel will discard all unidentifiable material without further notice.
• It is not allowed to store samples (DNA, RNA, cell pellets, imaging plates, etc.) in fridge/freezer of the user lab for long term. When a user is not working in the facility anymore (not active) and after notification, we will remove and discard all reagents/samples of the user. Do not store any belongings on the benches/cupboards, they will be removed. It is a common working area.

   

• After completion of work:
  • Clean bench and disinfect the surface with 80% ethanol!
  • Clean the tube of the pump first with deionized water and subsequently with 80% ethanol after usage
  • Switch off lamps of the microscopes according to the introduction!
  • If necessary (last user in the cell culture lab), switch off the bench, pump, water bath and microscope.
    
    

     

    • The following materials will be provided by CUSCO and are included in the bench usage fee:

• Serological Pipettes (5ml, 10ml and 25ml)
• Falcon Tubes (15ml and 50ml)
• Plates (6-wells and 12-wells)
• Filter Tips
• Ethanol
• Yellow waste bins
• Gloves
• EDTA solution
• Eppendorf tubes

   

  Furthermore, the following reagents are provided but must be purchased in openIRIS prior use:

• Vitronectin
• ROCK inhibitor
• mTeSR medium
• E8 medium

Appendix 3:Price list of CUSCO internal users (billing via ILV)