How to access CMCA facilities

CMCA is accessible to all researchers, including those in universities, medical institutes, government laboratories, and industry. The CMCA?s expert academic and professional staff are also able to provide analytical services to commercial clients.

For commercial enquiries, please contact us to discuss your requirements

For all other research access, please see the information below.

Research access

Researchers wanting to access CMCA facilities follow a four-step process:

1. Engage & plan

Contact CMCA's expert staff to discuss your project and determine what microscopy and microanalytical techniques are required.

CMCA infrastructure is grouped into Platforms comprising one or more related instruments and supporting staff.

Already know what technique you need?

Please contact the relevant Platform staff using the links below, providing a brief outline of your project, how you plan to use microscopy in your research, anticipated timelines, and attaching relevant references.

More information on the capabilities of our Platforms can be found on our Facilities page.

Not sure what method(s) you need to use to answer your research question?

Please submit an enquiry to one of our discipline-focused enquiry emails and you will be contacted by staff from relevant Platforms:

2. Register

For all Platforms except Metabolomics and Proteomics, before their project can commence, all researchers are required to complete the CMCA?s online registration form. This is a one-off process and is only required at the start of each new project.

To complete the registration form you will need to provide contact details for you, your supervisor (if you are a student), and an emergency contact. Based on your discussions with CMCA Platform staff, you will select the relevant Platforms/techniques and provide some additional details of your project.

You will also need to provide payment details (Business Unit and Project Grant numbers for UWA researchers) for your one-off Membership Fee (see Rates page).

The registration form can be found by clicking on the "To Register" link here.

3. Train

For most CMCA Platforms, CMCA staff will provide training so that researchers can undertake data acquisition and processing themselves. It is also possible to pay CMCA staff to undertake work for you (see Rates page).

Upon submission of your registration form, CMCA Platform staff will contact you to arrange your training.

4. Purchase instrument time

To purchase instrument time, please download and complete the Microscopy and Analysis Payment form [PDF, 335KB] and/or the WA NIF Pre-clinical Imaging Payment form [PDF, 389KB].

Note: the Microscopy and Analysis Payment form's pre-purchased hours will be credited to you within 72 hours of purchase so please do not submit the payment form until you have been rained and are ready to commence your work. Pre-purchased hours must be used within 12 months of purchase. Please consider this when deciding how large a block to purchase.

Out-of-hours access

The CMCA's normal working hours are Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. It is possible for researchers with sufficient instrument experience to request out-of-hours access to some Platforms. If you are interested in working outside the CMCA's normal working hours, please contact the relevant Platform using the contact emails above.

General enquiries

If you have questions about how to access CMCA that cannot be addressed by contacting one of the Platforms or discipline-specific emails, you can contact CMCA Admin.

Submit enquiry

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