Introduction

All the academic research proposals must be submitted through SAU Online. The following guidelines about how to submit the proposals are applicable exclusively to the public domain researches conducted by research/education teams from Brazil and abroad.

Research proposals from the private sector or those ones involving intellectual property or commercial use should be agreed by email to the User Service Support (SAU – Serviço de atendimento ao usuário – rb.mepncnull@uas).

Before submitting a research proposal, the users should visit the LNBio Facility webpage of his interests to check out the available services and technologies, as well as recommendations about the sample preparations, protocols and some other detailed specifications about the research proposal submission process.

Submitting a Research Proposal

The submission process of Research Proposals to LNBio is divided into two steps: Users Registration >  Research Proposal Submission. Each of the two steps can be performed at different times.

The Users Registration is the first step and can be carried out or updated at any time. This step is required just in the first access to SAU Online. The user may click on the button “create a new SAU Online account”. In the first access, the User will be asked to fill out some personal and professional information. Once it is done, the user should log out from SAU Online and login to the system again to continue the submission process.

Exceptional practices for assisting CNPEM users during the pandemic

During the pandemic period of COVID-19, CNPEM has adopted exceptional practices in assisting its researchers-users, seeking to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. These rules reinforce CNPEM’s commitment to serving the scientific community, aiming to ensure the health of the employees and visitors.

To access campus access rules and guidelines common to all open CNPEM facilities, click here

 

The LNBio facilities are open to external users (MAS, LEC, ROBOLAB and RMN). Check the calendar below:

FACILITY	SUBMISSION PERIOD 2023/24	EXECUTION PERIOD 2024
Mass Spectrometry  (MAS)	01/Aug/2023 to 31/Aug/2023	05/Fev/2024 to 13/Dec/2024
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (RMN)	03/Jan/2024 to 15/Dec/2024	15/Jan/2024 to 18/Dec/2024
Automated Protein Crystallization  (ROBOLAB)	15/Jan/2024 to 13/Dec/2024	15/Jan/2024 to 13/Dec/2024
Spectroscopy and Calorimetry (LEC)	15/Jan/2024 to 11/Dec/2024	29/Jan/2024 to 13/Dec/2024

Attention: the inclusion of students (masters,doctorate,etc.) in the proposals is encouraged. However, students cannot submit a proposal without a senior researcher as principal investigator. If the proposal is submitted by a doctoral student, it must contain a senior researcher, preferably the student’s advisor as the principal investigator.

Submission – Once you login in to SAU Online as a registered user to submit a Research Proposal, click on “Submit a new proposal”.

The Research Proposal must be filled out online. It will be forwarded automatically to the Users Support Department. It is recommended to evaluate the project technical feasibility before submitting a Research Proposal. Once it is submitted, the research proposal follows to the evaluation procedures.

 

Research Proposal Analysis

The research proposals are analyzed as follows:

Technical Feasibility Analysis – It is performed by the Facility Coordinator and by internal advisor(s). Proposals which are unfeasible or technically unsuitable for scientific instrumentation are not accepted and the proponent is notified by email.

 

Scientific Analysis – After that, the proposals are considered by an internal or external committee, assisted by facilities coordinators. This committee will be responsible for allocating the amount of equipment time necessary to perform the research.

 

The analysis results are notified by email, so it is highly recommended to the user frequently check out his email account.

 

Steps to be carried out before performing the research at LNBio

 

Once the research proposal is approved, the user is going to receive a message with instructions for the following 3 steps that should be carried out before performing the research at LNBio. The next steps are: Confirm the team and delegate responsibility > Accept Commitment Term > Safety Trainning (“Confirme a equipe de campo > Aceite o termo de Compromisso > Responda o questionário de treinamento de segurança”).

 

After the research proposal approval and scheduling on SAU Online, beside “Research proposals and activity reports > Preparation” (Propostas de Pesquisa e Activity Reports > Preparação) it is going to appear “1 pendency” (1 pendência). It indicates that the user should perform the following steps: the proponent will receive an e-mail with instructions to prepare your coming. 

 

“Confirm the team” – The user should name the staff that is going to come to LNBio to perform the research. The exact number of researchers varies according to the open facility required. In case of doubt, contact the User Service Support by email (rb.mepncnull@uas).

 

“Accept Commitment Term” – The user should read carefully the commitment term and accept it.

 

Important: Users are required to acknowledge the use of the LNBio facilities in any publications and to inform the Laboratory about any publications, thesis and other materials in due time. Also, they will cooperate by supplying this information upon request.

Recommended phrase for acknowledgement:

PT-BR

Esta pesquisa utilizou instalações do Laboratório Nacional de Nanotecnologia (LNNano), do Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM), uma Organização Social supervisionada pelo Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações (MCTI). A equipe da instalação (nome da instalação) é reconhecida pela assistência durante os experimentos (números das propostas).

EN-US

This research used facilities of the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano), part of the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), a private non-profit organization under the supervision of the Brazilian Ministry for Science, Technology, and Innovations (MCTI). The (facility name) staff is acknowledged for the assistance during the experiments (proposal numbers).

 

Guest House- There is a guest house in the CNPEM and users that living whitout Campina can stay if there is availability. The request is done in the SAU Online when the user is confirm your coming.

“Safety Training” – A safety training is compulsory to access the CNPEM facilities. In the preparation to perform the proposal, follow the link to access the safety training in the system SAU Online.

 

During the experiment, the team must follow the CNPEM code of conduct.

 

These are the steps required by the SAU Online before coming to LNBio.

 

After performing the research it is highly recommended to all users to “Fill the Evaluation Questionnaire”.

This questionnaire is part of the evaluation process of the facilities and the technical support to the experiments performed at the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory. The user cooperation is essential to the continuous improvement of the services available for the external users.