Design of the Light Microscopy Facility - Assignment Example

? Design of the Light microscopy facility Other (s) Design of the Light microscopy facility Introduction Designing a modern light microscopy facility which can support the requirements of a research institution is not an easy task and demands some after thought. In the last few decades, significant advances have been witnesses in the various scientific fields that use light microscopy techniques for example cellular biology, molecular biology, neurobiology and other health sciences. Consequently the design of a light microscopy facility must meet all the requirements of the sophisticated equipments to be installed while at the same time ensuring safety, flexibility and quality of the facility’s working environment (Ruys, 1990). On the other hand, the facility should also be designed to provide to provide enough space for the various research and analytic activities as well as provide a space for a small office for both the facility manager and two technical staff members. The available space is however only 12m X 15M (180M2). This paper focuses on the details of the design of the facility particularly with regard to partitioning plan for the internal walls, the position of the key equipment, ventilation, benches and the installation of power, lights and laboratory gas. Space planning and wall partitioning It is only through effective space planning that the facility can be able to accommodate all the requirements of equipment and working space and consequently ensure quality environment, safety and flexibility. Generally either a closed plan or an open plan can be used in the design of such facilities. Diberardinis (1993), argues that Open plans usually require fewer wall partitions and this not only reduces the potential construction costs but also ensures efficiency for team work and group research activities. On the other hand, closed plan will involve partitioning the available into several spall compartments for each equipment and activity as well as creating additional compartments to act as offices for the facility manager and the technical staff. In my capacity as the facility manager, I would recommend an open plan design since it will ensure more flexibility and effective utilization of the limited space of 180M2. In this regard, all the equipments and microscopes will be arranged and fixed along the perimeter walls of the facility. The center space will be fixed with split benches where researchers will be able to carry out activities such as sample preparation and post acquisition image processing and analysis. To ensure flexibility and maximize the use of space, the corridors of the facility will have to be wider than 1800mm for easy movement of the equipment. The wide corridors will also be used as storage places when need arises. Finally Instead of partitioning the walls at the facility, I recommend that free standing shelving and cabinets shall be used to separate various compartments. Layout Diagram of the Light Microscopy site Windows Access 2 15M 12M Technical staff offices Facility manager’s office Access door 1 Modular design of the Facility Generally the design will take into consideration the space requirements of the various pieces of equipment that are intended to be accommodated in our light microscopy laboratory such as the BSL level animal cell culture equipment, spinning disk microscope, HCS microscope, laser scanning confocal microscopes and general purpose microscopes. To achieve maximum flexibility, the research lab module concept will be used to design the dimensions as well as the building systems of the facility. In this regard factors such as the number of people who will be working in the facility, the number of the support offices as well as the size of the equipments to be installed will be taken into consideration. In the case of our facility the available space is 12M X 15M which is approximately 180M2. In this regard, the appropriate module width left at the center that will accommodate the safety considerations at the facility should be approximately 3200mm. This will also provide sufficient bench per investigator space. The remainder of space particularly along the perimeter walls will be sufficient to provide the space required for the equipment such as spinning disk microscope, HCS microscope, laser scanning confocal microscope and other devices at the facility. A common instrument room for storage glassware, freezing and storage of other microscopy lab utilities should be put at one end of the facility. The place should however be designed in a way that it easily accessible from all the corners of the facility (Dahan , 2010). Special partitions will however be created for the sensitive equipment such as the laser scanning Confocal microscope and the live cell spinning microscope. This is particularly because these kinds of equipment are usually sensitive to light, heat and vibration and should therefore be isolated in special compartments to protect them from mechanical interference. Finally support offices will be located on the either side of the laboratory building. One side of the central core will accommodate the office of the Facility manager while the other side will have two offices to accommodate two technical staff. All the offices will be designed in such a way that they encourage easy mobility across the facility. Ventilation, Access doors and windows The positions of the access doors and windows should be redesigned to ensure that provide the necessary light and ventilation while at the same time not blocking the corridors within the facility. This will be achieved by ensuring that all the doors and windows swing outwards when opened. Windows can also be reinforced with intale louvers to prevent the possible entry of the contaminated air into the facility. The width of the doors should be large enough to allow the movement of larger equipment in and outside the laboratory. Additionally all exit doors should be clearly labeled to ensure safety during fire and other related accidents. With regard to the design of windows, windows must be located in the direction of sunlight to provide adequate natural light and improve the work environment at the facility. The equipment that produces heat should also be aligned next to windows to ensure proper ventilation. The other necessary installations that will be included in the design of the facility include, waste management systems, plumbing facilities, electricity connections, laboratory furniture, laboratory curtains and blinds. According to Groden (2009), the generally the lighting and electricity installations should be designed in such a way that they do not attract insects. Electric wiring should also be present on all the permanent walls of the facility to ensure that all the equipment are connected to the nearest electric socket. On the other hand, the three offices one for the manager of the facility and the two for the technical staff should also be equipped with additional facilities such as efficient work surfaces, cabinets, lateral filing systems and white boards. In summary, the design of a light microscopy facility incorporates the necessary plan and requirements that will help ensure safety, flexibility and quality of the facility’s working environment while at the same time meeting the requirements of the various sophisticated light microscope pieces of equipment at the facility. References Dahan, F., 2010. Laboratories: A Guide to Master Planning, Programming, Procurement and Design. Durham: Duke University Press Diberardinis, L. 1993. Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health and Safety Considerations, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Groden, E., 2009. Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health and Safety Consideration. London: Century Books. Ruys, T. 1990. Handbook of Facilities Planning, Volume 1. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Printing press. Read More