Frequently Asked Questions
- I'm a new Principal Investigator and will be submitting a grant that involves the use of laboratory animals. What do I need to do?
- How do I obtain a pending letter for a grant that I am about to submit?
- How long will it take my application to be approved?
- How do I add another species to an approved protocol?
- How do I add additional animals to an approved protocol?
- I will be submitting a grant to another funding agency which is identical to a protocol that has been approved by the IACUC. How can I obtain an approval letter for this new, identical project?
1. I'm a new Principal Investigator and will be submitting a grant that involves the use of laboratory animals. What do I need to do?
- Obtain a "New Investigator Handbook" (.doc or .pdf) from the IACP office.
- View the appropriate training films and complete their response cards; read the training handbook and complete its questionnaire; and review the occupational health program brochure and complete its response card. These materials are available through the Institutional Animal Care Program (IACP) office.
- Contact your department's Departmental Animal Research Officer (DARO).
- Consult with a veterinarian concerning the procedures that you are planning to perform. Veterinary consults may be requested by contacting Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR).
- Complete the "Application for the Use of Laboratory Animals" and submit it to the IACP office so that your protocol may be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). (All individuals listed in the protocol must complete the appropriate training.)
2. How do I obtain a pending letter for a grant that I am about to submit?
To obtain a pending letter, submit the name and title of the P.I., name of the funding agency and title of the grant to the IACP office. The pending letter will be available that same day.
Pending letters are only available for new grant submissions. A pending letter can be issued before the "Application for the Use of Laboratory Animals" has been submitted.
The pending letter states that a decision will be made concerning the project within 60 days of the date that the letter was issued. Please consider this when requesting a letter before an application has been submitted. Some funding sources require approval before they will evaluate the grant proposal. The IACP office is not responsible for applications approved beyond the 60 days if the application was not submitted at the same time the pending letter was issued.
3. How long will it take my application to be approved?
It will take 4-6 weeks from the time the application is submitted to the IACP office to when it is approved by the IACUC. (Those protocols going through Full Committee Review (Class B2, C or D) must be reviewed by the entire IACUC, which meets once a month. These protocols may take as long as 8 weeks to be approved.)
4. How do I add another species to an approved protocol?
Complete the "Application for the Use of Laboratory Animals" to include only the information concerning the new species and submit it to the IACP office so that your protocol may be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
5. How do I add additional animals to an approved protocol?
If the same, approved procedures for that protocol will be used -- Complete the "Request to Increase Animal Usage". Include exactly why you require the additional animals and how you plan to use them. Submit the request to the IACP office so that your protocol may be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
If the procedures to be used with the additional animals are different from those on the approved protocol- Complete the "Application for the Use of Laboratory Animals" to include only the information concerning the new procedures and submit it to the IACP office so that your protocol may be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
6. I will be submitting a grant to another funding agency which is identical to a protocol that has been approved by the IACUC. How can I obtain an approval letter for this new, identical project?
Complete the "Application for the Use of Laboratory Animals" and indicate on page 2 the protocol number that the new application is identical to. Submit the application to the IACP office so that your protocol may be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). These applications normally receive a facilitated review and should be approved within 3-4 days.
Each protocol is assigned a unique number which is specific to the grant that it has been attached to. Therefore, each grant must have its own, separate protocol.