I find this discussion very interesting. As a manager of a government
lab we provide services to a number of individuals at various
Universities and state agencies for no charge. There are restrictions
though, the major one being that the amount of time available is very
limited and that our projects take priority over samples submitted to
us. In addition our NMR capabilities are rather limited and we have
had to rely on local universities for NMR time. Even thought these
Universities obtained partial funding from HIH or NSF we are still
charged for the NMR time. Pretty gutsy move on the University's part.
I personally have never used any of these facilities, but we have
scientist who do utilize these sites.
As a post doc in Canada we ran a large number of samples from
industry. Generally a small fee was paid to the NMR facility to help
defray expenses. Since it has been many years since I was in Canada I
do not know if this was 'legal' or not. Most University research was
funded by the Canadian government.
My feeling is to go for it. Be prepared for some problems with your
customers, they are seldom satisfied. That is why consulting
companies and commercial NMR Laboratories charge so much, they have to
put with the customers sh*t.
Bob Dudley
rdudley@arserrc.gov