Objective of the Survey

This survey is designed to be a longitudinal study to allow the Flow Cytometry community to track facility changes over time. We have also included more timely questions to capture key challenges  specific to COVID-19 pandemic response.

This survey is structured to capture the following information:
 
a. Background Information.
b. Utilization and Financial Information.
c. Application Information.
d. Maintenance and Service
e. COVID-19 response and impact.


# Learn how your facility compares with other Flow Facilities/Cores regionally/worldwide
# Learn what advanced technologies other Flow  Facilities/Cores are using.
# Learn about trends in Flow Cytometry
# Our intent is to provide a comprehensive report that you can use to justify your ongoing Institutional Support and/or acquisition of new Cytometric technologies.
#Learn how cytometry facilities worldwide are coping up with COVID-19

Other Information:

Please contact support@IdeaElan.com if you have any questions. All responses will be kept confidential.
The aggregated results of this survey will be made available in a peer-reviewed publication.

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* 1. How would you classify your Flow Cytometry facility? (Select all that apply)

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* 2. How would you categorize the primary area of research for users?
(Select all that apply)

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* 3. How many Cytometry facilities or labs with their own cytometers are in your institution ?

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* 4. How many major Cytometers do you have in your Facility Cytometry facility?

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* 5. How many of each type of instrument?

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* 6. How many Staff members do you have (excluding you)?

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* 7. How many Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff hours do you have (excluding you)?

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* 8. How many total users do you have? (Including PI/Group leaders and the users Grad Student/Post docs)

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* 9. As a Cytometry Core manager or director, do you work on your own research?

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* 10. What is the annual operating cost of your Facility?

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* 11. Does the total operating cost from the above question include staff salary?

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* 12. What are your sources of Funds to acquire new equipment? (Select all that apply)

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* 13. What percentage of your operation costs come from the following sources? (Should sum up to 100%)

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* 14. How do you market your Flow Cytometry Facility?
(Select all that apply) (Marketing Info)

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* 15. What percent of users acknowledge your facility for publication?

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* 16. What are the average weekly usage for each type of instrument in your facility?

  NA <10 hours 10-20 hours 21-40 hours 41-60 hours >60 hours #Users 1-10 #Users 11-30 #Users 31-50 #Users Above 50
Cell Analysis 
Cell Sorting 
Image based Flow Cytometry 
Laser Scanning Cytometry
Mass Cytometry
Dedicated Spectral Cytometry
Dedicated small particle (sub 200 nm analysis)
Dedicated large particle (analysis greater than 200 µm)

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* 17. How many active users do you have?

  1-10 11-30 31-50 51-75 76-100 101-200 201-300 >300
Internal Users
External Academic Users
Commercial Users
Principal Investigators (PI/Group Leaders)

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* 18. What percent is utilized by

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* 19. What percent of revenue did you get from different types of users?

  <10% 10%-25% 25%-50% 50%-75% 75% -90% >90% N/A
Internal Users
External Academic Users
Commercial Users
Other

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* 20. Whats the average profit margin for a commercial user?

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* 21. What is your average hourly fee for Unsupervised /Regular sessions?

  $0 (€0) $10-$30 ( €9-€27) $31-$50 (€27-€45) $51-$75 (€45-€67) $76-$100 (€67-€89) >$101 ( €90) N/A
Cell Analysis 
Cell Sorting 
Image based Flow Cytometry
Mass Cytometry
Dedicated Spectral Cytometry
Laser Scanning Cytometry
Dedicated small particle (sub 200 nm analysis)
Dedicated large particle (analysis greater than 200 µm)

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* 22. What is your average hourly fee for Supervised /Assisted sessions?

  $0 (€0) $10-$30 (€9-€27) $31-$50 (€27-€45) $51-$75 (€45-€67) $76-$100 (€67-€89) >$101 ( €90) N/A
Cell Analysis 
Cell Sorting
Image based Flow Cytometry
Mass Cytometry
Dedicated Spectral Cytometry
Laser Scanning Cytometry
Dedicated small particle (sub 200 nm analysis)
Dedicated large particle (analysis greater than 200 µm)

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* 23. Do you offer training for users? (Select all that apply)

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* 24. What is your average hourly fee for Training sessions?

  $0 (€0) $10-$30 (€9-€27) $31-$50 (€27-€45) $51-$75 (€45-€67) $76-$100 (€67-€89) >$101 ( €90) N/A
Cell Analysis 
Cell Sorting 
Image based Flow Cytometry
Mass Cytometry
Dedicated Spectral Cytometry
Laser Scanning Cytometry
Dedicated small particle (sub 200 nm analysis)
Dedicated large particle (analysis greater than 200 µm)

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* 25. How do you manage your booking?

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* 26. How do you manage your billing?

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* 27. Which advanced Flow Cytometry applications are performed in your facility?
(Select all that apply)

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* 28. Typically how many colors are used by different users? (Express in percentage)

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* 29. Which cell Types are used in your facility?
(Select all that apply)

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* 30. What is the downstream application of samples sorted in your facility?

  <10% 11-25% 26-50% 51-75% >75%
Genomics
Single Cell Genomics
Proteomics
Cell Culture
Metabolomics
Lipidomics
Microscopy
Other

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* 31. How are Biohazards dealt with? (Select all that apply)

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* 32. As a Cytometry Core what are your key challenges?
(Should be ranked from low to high concern)

  1 - Least Concern  2 3 4 5 - Highest Concern
Getting more users
Instrument Service/Repair issues/Costs
Cost Recovery
Effective Day-to-Day Operational challenges
Staffing related challenges

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* 33. How are old instruments handled?
(Select all that apply)

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* 34. What is the source of funding for service contracts? (Select all that apply)

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* 35. Who services your instruments? (Select all that apply)

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* 36. What percent of your high end equipment do you maintain on a service contract?

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* 37. How are technical issues for your Instruments reported to the manufacturer?

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* 38. On a scale of 1-10 how do you rate the Instrument Service/Repair process? (10 being excellent)

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* 39. What are the key factors for having a service contract? (Should be ranked from low to high concern)

  1 - Least Concern 2 3 4 5 6 - Highest Concern
Cost
Quality of the Instrument
Quality of Service/Support
Utilization of Instrument
Speed of Service
Peace of mind

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* 40. On average, how often is an individual instrument down due to technical issues in a year?

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* 41. How long is the instrument out of service if there is a technical issue?

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* 42. How did your utilization change in the last 3 years up until the end of 2019?

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* 43. During lockdown, how did COVID-19 impact the utilization of your facility?

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* 44. After lockdown, how will your utilization be impacted with social distancing rules due to COVID-19

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* 45. What business/operating rules and policies do you plan to change in the COVID-19 era?

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* 46. How do you plan to do training in the COVID-19 era?

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* 47. As a Flow Cytometry Core what are your key challenges due to the outbreak of COVID-19?
(Should be ranked from low to high concern)

  1 - Least Concern 2 3 4 5 6 7 - Highest Concern
Loss of Revenue
Staff Morale
Training New Users
Personnel Health
Decreased productivity
Scheduling complexity
Maintaining social Distancing

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* 48. What PPE are required to use your core during COVID-19? (Select all that apply)

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* 49. How are you decontaminating your equipment during COVID-19?

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* 50. How often do you sterilize the equipment during COVID-19?

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* 51. Who sterilizes the equipment during COVID-19?

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* 52. For the completeness of the survey, please provide your contact information.

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* 53. May we contact you for a follow-up?