Microscope Checklist

A brief checklist to help you get going on the microscope.

Contents

1. Before Your First Flowcell
2. After Your Last Flowcell

1. Before Your First Flowcell

1.1 Setup

1. Make sure the hard drive has sufficient space to store the awesome data you’re going to produce today.
2. Turn on:
   1. laser
   2. microscope
   3. microfluidics
3. Wash microfluidics and injection valves with:
   1. 0.1M NaOH
   2. 0.1M HCl
   3. 5M NaCl (optional; removes residual YOYO-1, if needed)
   4. ddH2O
4. **Carefully** screw the 60x objective into the turret.
5. **Carefully** remove prism from MeOH, rinse with MeOH and dry with compressed nitrogen.
6. Place a small drop of water on the objective and use an old, scratched slide to find proper z-location.
7. Check to make sure the microscope is set to R100.

1.2 After Each Flowcell

1. Don’t forget to add a bit more water to 60x WI objective.
2. Add a tiny drop of additional oil between the prism and flowcell.

2. After Your Last Flowcell

1. Remove the prism, rinse with methanol and store in falcon tube with methanol.
2. **Carefully** remove the objective, drag-n-drop clean with optical-grade methanol and lens tissue, and put in objective case.
3. Replace the objective cap on the turret.
4. Cover microscope with dust cover.
5. Wash all tubing and loops with 0.1M NaOH, 0.1M HCl, H2O.
6. Turn off microscope, syringe pump and laser.
7. Make sure you’ve removed and disposed all syringes and wrappers.
8. Empty liquid waste container, if needed.