The purpose of this shared service is to support equipment maintenance for research equipment that is shared by cancer center members and used for peer-reviewed research projects. Many of the cancer center investigators rely on shared-use instruments. These particular instruments require some degree of supervision or expertise and, thus, are located in individual laboratories so that technical help in operating the instrument is readily available. Some of the equipment is used mainly by the occupants of a particular laboratory, while, in other instances, a piece of equipment is unique and the only one of its kind in the building or on the particular campus. This equipment is shared and available to all investigators who are members of the cancer center. The concept of shared equipment minimizes the efficient use of the instruments and ensures investigators the availability of instrumentation that would otherwise be beyond the financial means of their research projects. The majority of this instrumentation has been purchased with donations, grants, contracts, or departmental funds that are no longer available for continued support of the equipment. As a result, there are no funds to support preventive maintenance and repair. Because the equipment frequently has a large number of users, it is difficult to apportion the responsibility for maintenance. Cancer center support for this function has provided a measure of stability for equipment maintenance. The goals of this shared service are: * To ensure continued operation of research equipment used by cancer center investigators; * To maximize access by cancer center members to needed research equipment; * To provide an efficient mechanism for supporting needed research equipment without cutting into research dollars; and * To potentially achieve cost savings though contracts covering multiple pieces of equipment.
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