Our Policies

Click here for the latest downloadable version of our User Agreement.

Our policies are subject to change, please stay updated.

General:

• User must be trained in WHMIS and any other departmental or University of Toronto safety courses before entering the NMR Centre.
• User will not use any spectrometers in the NMR Centre unless you have taken the hands-on training from the NMR staff.
• Any authorized user cannot provide access to any other individual.
• User will not perform any hardware configuration modifications, repairs, additions on any of the spectrometers or spectrometer accessories in the NMR Centre unless explicitly trained and instructed to do so by the NMR staff. 
• User will report any problems or malfunctions to the NMR Centre's staff as soon as practical.
• Account sharing is prohibited. User must not use anyone else's account and must not allow anyone else to use their own account. 
• User will keep their password confidential. User agrees to take every precaution necessary to ensure their password is never disclosed, accidentally or otherwise, to anyone else at any time. User is solely responsible for maintaining the security of the password.
• Use of your account to attempt entry to accounts of which you are not a legitimate owner of on any computing systems is prohibited. 
• The files associated with your account belong to your research group. Your files may be read, altered, or removed if necessary for maintenance purposes only. We do not guarantee any archive of your files. 
• The NMR Center and its resources must not be used for private consulting or sold to other individuals or businesses. Use of any part of the NMR Centre or its resources for direct personal financial gain or to provide free resources for unauthorized purposes is prohibited.
• Sharing any of the NMR Centre resources which include but not limited to software, software licenses, spectrometer time, spectrometer accessories, tools, consumables without explicit approval from the NMR Centre manager is prohibited.
• It is up to the user to familiarize themselves with or seek help from staff when new facility SOPs and/or user guides are announced and become available. It is up to the user to stay up to date with NMR Centre guidelines and policies which are periodically updated on facility’s website and communicated to all users.
• NMR Centre is a shared space. And as such the long-term storage of any samples, solvents, chemicals, equipment, tool and etc. from individual research labs is prohibited unless explicitly stated.
• NMR Centre is a lab space. No food or drinks allowed. Only lab appropriate attire is allowed. Safety glasses are not currently mandatory but are highly recommended.
• NMR Centre operates in “safety first” mode. This includes the safety of all of its users, staff, and equipment.

Training and access:

• Spectrometer training can only be scheduled after verification of WHMIS training.
• Access to the lab can only be granted after training.
• Spectrometer training can only be delivered by approved staff members.
• Users without training are not allowed to operate spectrometers in any way.
• Using spectrometers or spectrometer workstations without booking is prohibited.
• Training on 400/500 MHz instruments is scheduled 5-10 business days ahead of time.
• Training on 600 MHz instruments is scheduled 10-20 business days ahead of time.
• Due to complexity and diversity of spectrometer configurations - there is independent training for each of the spectrometer in the NMR Centre.
• Due to complexity and diversity of spectrometer configurations, training refresher needs to be scheduled after 12 months of not using any particular spectrometer.
• Due to complexity and diversity of spectrometer configurations, as well as diversity and complexity of the experiments possible – recently trained and/or less experienced users are prohibited from setting up experiments during the after hours, weekends, and holidays unless explicitly allowed by facility manager. This limitation has to be explicitly lifted by facility management
• Booking of any high field spectrometer constitutes a large purchase. Any spectrometer time requests have to be done in writing and have to be explicitly approved by supervising faculty member and a facility manager.
• High field spectrometer booking, in general, are kept to a maximum of 10 business days and are booked no more than 6 weeks ahead of time. Any exclusions from these rules are discussed with supervising faculty members.
• Due to high demand for spectrometer time, spectrometer load is regulated by facility management. Timelines of projects are discussed with faculty members.
• NMR Centre management maintains the right to postpone or deny any experiment due to safety concerns.
• NMR Centre management maintains the right to reschedule or cancel experiments due to spectrometer downtime. It is end user’s responsibility to look for next available booking window.

Computer systems:

• Use of USB keys, USB storage devices, or any other external USB devices other than the ones provided by NMR Centre is strictly prohibited.
• Any modifications, software or hardware, to any of the workstations owned and operated by NMR Centre is prohibited.
• Power cycling or restarting any workstations owned and operated by NMR Centre is prohibited unless explicitly instructed by staff.
• Adding any workstations to NMR Centre wired network is strictly prohibited.
• Any files stored locally on any of the workstations can be removed without notice as part of the maintenance and troubleshooting.
• No open liquids allowed in proximity to any of the workstations.

Spectrometer operation guidelines:

• Modifications to spectrometer setup, software and hardware, are prohibited, unless explicitly instructed by facility staff.
• Rearrangement of any spectrometer parts or accessories is prohibited, unless explicitly instructed by facility staff.
• All training is available on request and subject to staff availability.
• Use of compromised NMR tubes is strictly prohibited.
• Use of spectrometer outside of recommended safety and power limits is prohibited. This includes but not limited to:
  1. Calibrated pulse widths and power levels listed in probe file.
  2. Posted limitations to probe maximum allowed high power pulses or spinlock fields in power levels or durations.
  3. Posted limitations on amplifier or probe duty cycles.
  4. Running known “bad” samples, leads to excessive shims heating.
• Using spectrometers and probe outside of recommended temperature range is prohibited.
• Any high-risk experiments have to be explicitly cleared by facility manager and can only be performed by experienced users.
  1. High risk constitutes but not limited to: long mixing times CPMG experiments, very high or very low temperatures, higher than atmospheric pressure experiments, X-band decoupling experiments.
• Spectrometer must be operated with high level of attention to magnet safety, this includes but not limited to:
  1. Magnet stability.
  2. Posted magnet safety lines and magnetic objects.
  3. Excessive sample heating.
  4. Excessive shim power usage.
  5. Cryogen safety, cryogen boil off management.
• NMR Centre management maintains the right to postpone or deny any experiment due to safety concerns.

Consequences to policy violation:

NMR Centre staff and users are to be treated with respect at all times.

All NMR Centre staff and U of T employees agree to abide by University of Toronto policies and guidelines posted at Policies and Guidelines – The Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture (https://people.utoronto.ca/policies/).

Likewise, all student users must abide by the University of Toronto Code of Student Conduct, terms of which are available at: (https://governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/secretariat/policies/code-student-conduct-december-13-2019).

Instances of rude or inappropriate behavior will lead to a written warning from the facility management. Continued inappropriate behavior will lead to permanent loss of access to the core facility.