FLOW CYTOMETRY SHARED RESOURCE: The VMC FCSR offers a myriad of flow cytometry and immunology related services and support to multiple supporting Centers, Veterans Administration scientist, and external private entities and of course the Vanderbilt research community at large. Users range from undergraduates all the way up to and including Principle Investigators. Every effort is made to tailor each individual's support to his or her specific needs and experience with consideration given to Institution/Center/Department/Lab membership. Prioritizing members of a group that provides sponsorship to our shared resource while maintaining a high standard of customer service and technological support to all members can be challenging, but accomplished with foresight, good communication and transparency in the process. One of the keys for success is a good strategy to ensure adequate capacity for all users, while highlighting support for specific sponsored members whenever relevant. A resource or capacity starved service Core will constantly be struggling to provide acceptable support to a sponsoring group while maintaining customer service standards and meeting the scientific needs of the broader user base. Accurate accounting of each sponsoring groups usage contrasted with the usage of all others is a good way to measure and prioritize changing needs that your core must address. If such metrics can be presented to governing bodies and sponsoring parties at our institution, planning ahead for the acquisition of additional resources or personal before they become critical becomes manageable. Targeted support or new resources that may initially only be pertinent to an individual sponsoring group will generally lead to greater use by the entire user base once successful results are reported by the focused, sponsored group. We have found the implementation of a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of members of supporting Centers and a diverse representation of our general user base to be critical to providing the service and support we strive for. An advising body that can provide a platform to display our Core finances, usage and capacity transparently and allow users at different levels to gain insight on the realities we face and assist us in making decisions is extremely helpful. In a collegial environment such as this consensus can be reached and concerns can be voiced that allow us to continue to support all users at the highest possible level. Each board member can then return to their home department and relay their findings back to their colleagues, which leads to greater overall acceptance and understanding by all. Lastly, oversight by a strong institutional leadership body with broad vision that encompasses all of the sponsoring groups and users has been critical to meet these challenges.
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