UNMC has developed an online training program that is required for all personnel involved in animal research, including students. The training is required for everyone listed on an active protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Whereas the new training replaces the core basic training required by Comparative Medicine, the CM core basic training cannot substitute for the new training.
“After Sept. 1, all personnel required to take the course must register a passing score by the next time an application-such as annual or triennial continuing review, new protocol or six-year rewrite–is submitted to the IACUC,” said Ernest Prentice, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for Regulatory Affairs at UNMC. “These applications will be approved (and the research allowed to proceed) only if all personnel listed on them have passed the test. In addition, this training will be required of all personnel added to protocols before they can have contact with animals.”
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Ernest Prentice, Ph.D. | Michael Mann, Ph.D. |
According to Michael Mann, Ph.D., professor of physiology and biophysics and executive chairman of the IACUC at UNMC, the training is designed to cover basic information useful in planning and carrying out animal research and in completing required application forms, and it includes all topics mandated by federal regulations.
Dr. Mann said the course was designed to improve the university’s compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. Those regulations make it the responsibility of each institution “to ensure that all scientists, research technicians, animal technicians, and other personnel involved in animal care, treatment and use are qualified to perform their duties. This responsibility shall be fulfilled in part through provision of training and instruction to those personnel.”
The need for well-documented training has been emphasized in numerous recent publications and national meetings related to compliance with the regulations, Dr. Mann said.
He listed many benefits of the new course, including:
- It should help personnel understand federal regulation of animal research;
- It should make it easier for investigators to complete IACUC applications; and
- It should help investigators comply with the regulations.
“The major benefit will be the preservation of our privilege to carry out research involving animals at UNMC and UNO,” Dr. Mann said.
The course can be completed in about two hours, but it need not be completed in a single session. Self-test questions are available at the end of each session. Participants must pass a test at the end of the course, with a score greater than 84 percent. Questions on the test are drawn from the samples at the end of the lessons. Those without access to the Internet may check out from the IACUC office a copy of the lessons, then take the test there.
To determine whether you are required to take this course, click here, then follow the instructions to open your profile. This will provide access to a slideshow developed to show you how to signup for the course. You can also access the slideshow directly at http://www.unmc.edu/iacuc/show_flash.html. Finally, you may access the slideshow by clicking the “Online Training” button on the iacuc web page.
If you have questions or problems in accessing the training course, contact the IACUC Office at (402) 559-6463 or iacucora@unmc.edu.