Preliminary List of Salient Characteristics Updated v. 8.11.2021.docx

Statement of Salient Characteristics/Key Specifications

· Must be a live-cell imaging confocal microscope

· Must be a compact system that can easily fit into a Biosafety cabinet (BSC) - (approximately 24 inches x 60 inches x 30 inches) and have a small footprint (eg. a microscope with dimensions close to 8 inches x 5 inches x 8 inches)

· Must be portable - it must be able to be removed from the Biosafety cabinet hood and reinstalled when necessary by the actual end users without special assistance. It cannot be large enough to require integration into the BSC hood, and installation or removal should not require vendor assistance.

· Must have vibration controls (no specific vibration parameters)

· Must have imaging resolution of 30 nm resolution or less (30 nm is the minimum acceptable resolution – so any value greater than 30 nm would have lower resolution and the lab cannot track certain parameters)

· Must be suitable for real-time live cell imaging of virus infected cells

· Must meet Biosafety 4 lab safety requirements

· Eg. It would need to go through a paraformaldehyde gas decontamination

· Any service that would need to be done on the scope would require the vendor to come onsite or have the equipment shipped to them.

· Integrated microfluidics device (that can deliver solutions and buffers that are needed within the small compact size). Temperature control for the microfluidics device is also needed.

· If the system lacks an integrated microfluidics device and/or temperature control for this microfluidics device, then the laboratory can’t do the types of experiments they need to do, and will limit what Program can do with collaborators.

· The equipment must be capable of being remotely accessed (users can log on to the internal system and control the device from outside the BSL4 lab – otherwise Program can’t monitor and research long term cultures without someone being in the lab 24/7)