WG 14 – Room Environment

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WG 14 – Objectives

A stable environment is crucial to operate state of the art microscopes. Commercial instruments are designed to operate under specific room environment parameters, including temperature, humidity, vibration, dust, and electrical/electromagnetic or acoustical noise. 

It is important to adhere to these specifications to ensure accurate and reproducible results. Currently, it is unclear for the light microscopy community how to accurately and routinely measure these parameters and relate own measurements with the required specifications. 

WG14 aims to establish measurement protocols for light microscopy room requirements. Our initial goal will be to develop protocols for measuring temperature at key locations in the room and at the microscope.

WG 14 – Co-Chairs

WG 14 - Latest News

 Upcoming meeting: 18th June 2025, 5:00 pm
Last meeting: 16th April 2025, 5:00 pm

3rd meeting, 15th of May 2024

Meeting date

15/05/2024 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

At our third meeting, we unanimously elected WG14 co-chairs and representatives. The co-chairs selected are Britta Schroth-Diez and Hans Fried. Hans Fried will also serve as the representative for the steering committee, while Roland Nitschke will be our representative for the Editorial Review Board, and Nathalie Aulner will our Ombuds Board representative. Additionally, we outlined the next steps on our agenda. We agreed to start with temperature measurements and to adopt the method outlined in Kukat C. et al (DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.24795) as a foundation for discussing and crafting a protocol. This protocol will include details regarding the type of thermos sensors to be utilised, the optimal quantity of sensors, and their placement. Furthermore, we discussed about and agreed on the name for our working group to be WG 14 Room Environment.

Meeting documentation

2nd meeting, 10th of April 2024

Meeting date

10/04/2024 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

After talking about basic organisational matters, we discussed WG14 Co-chairs and representatives : We need at least two co-chairs who will serve initially for a two-years term. In addition, we need representatives for the SC, the ERB, and the OB. Please think about your potential candidacy. We confirmed to vote for our co-chairs and WG14 representatives during the 3rd meeting in May. The main topic on the agenda of our 2nd meeting was to discuss and finalise the WG14 Mission statement: The discussion was based on the draft prepared beforehand by a small group. We agreed to publish the final statement as soon as possible on the QUAREP-LiMi website. The possibility of adjusting the name of WG14 was shifted to the May meeting.

Meeting documentation

1st meeting, 20th of March 2024

Meeting date

20/03/2024 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

We agreed on some general operation topics and had a great brainstorming session: Meetings: We agreed to meet monthly for one hour every 3rd Wednesday of a month at 5PM CE(S)T. If necessary, there will be exceptions to the rule, which will already be the case for our 2nd meeting: We agreed on shifting our April meeting to April 10th. The May meeting will take place on the regular date, May 15th. Co-chairs: We need at least 2 co-chairs who will serve initially for a two-years term. We will vote for our co-chairs during the 3rd meeting in May. Main Aims: We discussed important topics to focus on: temperature, dust, humidity, vibrations, electrical distortions/noise. We plan to set up protocols, guidelines, and standards for measurements for these parameters. We decided to start working on protocols for temperature first. Mission statement and WG14 name: A small group prepares a draft as basis for our discussion in the next meeting. Based on the mission statement we will think about adjusting the name of WG 14.

Meeting documentation

Memberlist WG 14