Promoting and maintaining a facility is a major concern to many of us. I had the pleasure last spring of participating in the 2nd International Cryo-workshop held in the Bio-Imaging Facility at the University of British Columbia. I talked to the facility director, Elaine Humphrey, and saw what she has done in a relatively short number of years in building that facility. I was incredibly impressed so I asked Elaine if she would address mis topic.

Elaine started out as a marine biologist in England and came across a problem that required electron microscopy. The first facility she went to was very discouraging saying that it was an extremely difficult technique. She managed to find another facility that made it easy.