IACUC FAQ
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is committed to responsible oversight of the use of vertebrate animals in research, testing and exhibition in accordance with Public Health Service Policy. The committee ensures that all use of animals at Texas Tech Health El Paso is in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and all other applicable federal, state and local regulations, policies and procedures. We are a fully accredited institution with the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International.
IACUC review and approval is required when the research involves the use of live vertebrate animals
If you are uncertain whether your planned activities constitutes research requiring IACUC approval, contact your local IACUC office prior to beginning any research activities.
Faculty status is required for all PIs. Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis by the VPR. Details may be found in Texas Tech Health El Paso OP 73.08: Requirements for PI Status. The PI accepts overall responsibility for directing the research and for complying with relevant policies.
No. You must receive written approval from the IACUC before beginning animal activities, data collection or data analysis. A letter indicating that your project has been approved will be sent when approval has been granted. Please review the letter for any additional approvals that may be necessary.
iRIS is an electronic web-based research software that facilitates IACUC submissions and management of animal research protocols. Use of iRIS is mandated on the Texas Tech Health El Paso campus for all IACUC submissions.
All principal investigators, co-investigators, and research staff are required to receive training regarding research involving animal subjects as described by 9 CFR, Part 2, Subpart C, Section 2.32(c) prior to beginning any animal research-related activities.
Minimum requirements to participate in research involving animal subjects:
- Working with the IACUC Course
- Reducing Pain and Distress in Laboratory Mice and Rats Course
- Working with (Species) in Research Settings Course
- Conflict of interest Course
- Submission of a Research Financial Disclosure
- Occupational Health Safety (OHS) Clearance
Additional training (study-dependant):
- Antibody Production in Animals
- Aseptic Surgery
Please visit the Training Requirements page to learn more regarding these items.
You can affiliate your account with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso by visiting www.citiprogram.com and following the steps below.
- From the Main Menu on your profile, click on the link "Click here to affiliate with another institution."
- Type and choose the correct institution from the search box.
- Answer the member information questions required by your newly affiliated institution.
- Enroll in the course(s) required by your newly affiliated institution.
If you would like to receive credit for modules previously taken, there are several requirements that must be met.
To transfer course credit between institutions, you will need to be affiliated with both institutions (your previous institution and your new institution). Follow the "Click here to affiliate with another institution" link on your Main Menu to add an affiliation.
When you are affiliated with both institutions, enroll in the courses that need to be transferred under both institutions via the "Add a Course or Update Learner Groups" link under the appropriate institution if necessary. You will need to enroll in the same stage of the course (Basic/Refresher) for a proper transfer to occur.
Once you are enrolled in the courses, any modules that are shared between the courses between institutions will have their credit transferred automatically. The transfer is based on each module's unique ID number. If the courses do not match exactly, not all credit will transfer, and you may need complete the difference in modules at your new institution to get full credit for a Completion Report. If the course is set to expire soon, credit will not transfer and all modules will need to be completed.
What if I have completed this CITI training course previously?
Many institutions use the CITI program to administrate required training courses and the same course is often used between different institutions. If you have completed a specific course (or modules within a course) within the past two years then you will automatically receive credit for those portions when enrolling for the same course under the Texas Tech Health El Paso affiliation in CITI.
How do I transfer records of previous CITI course completions to Texas Tech Health El Paso?
Simply affiliate your CITI account with Texas Tech Health El Paso and enroll for the course under our section. Upon enrolling, you will automatically be granted credit for the courses or modules/portions of courses that you have completed in the past two years. Please note that the Course ID must match for credit to be transferred; similar training with different course numbers is not accepted and will not transfer.
Why did my CITI course completion from a different institution not transfer to Texas Tech Health El Paso?
If you have followed the steps above and credit has not transferred, it may be due
to the following
reasons:
- The course completed at the other institution is not compatible with the Texas Tech
Health El Paso
version. This occurs when an institution opts for a highly customized course with institution specific content rather than the base course offered by CITI or simply uses a different base course with similar content. You will need to enroll for and complete our required course(s) in their entirety as these have been approved by our institutional bodies to comply with local/state/federal regulations. - Not all modules required for the course by Texas Tech Health El Paso have been completed. For some courses, Texas Tech Health El Paso requires completion of supplementary modules beyond the base course offered by CITI. If you have completed the base course at another institution within the past two years you will receive credit for those portions upon enrollment and need only complete the additional modules. Upon completion of these, you will receive a new certificate for the entire course valid for the full renewal period.
- The course is expired or was completed more than two years ago. Due to the renewal periods set by our institution and federal regulations, training older than two years is not accepted for transfer to Texas Tech Health El Paso.
Your IACUC protocol approval is valid for three years; however, annual status reports are required.
Yes, the Attending Veterinarian (AV) is a helpful resource for investigators who are preparing protocols. The IACUC strongly recommends contacting the AV early in the process of preparing applications, renewals, or amendments to provide advice on the appropriate and optimal species-specific uses of procedures, anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia.
What is a congruency review?
A congruency review is a review of a proposal to ensure the animal activity outlined in that proposal has been approved by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) in an active, approved protocol as required by federal granting agencies.
It is the institution’s responsibility to ensure that the IACUC has approved the proposed use of animals described in a grant application or contract proposal. This is required to comply with the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals as stated in Section V.B.
Funding agencies ask for this verification by requesting an IACUC approval date. It is the release of the approval date that verifies to the agency that a congruency comparison has been completed. Therefore, the approval date cannot be released until Texas Tech Health El Paso has verified that the proposal and the protocol(s) are congruent.
When is a congruency review required?
Congruency review is required for PHS agencies and other federal sponsors, such as, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), and Department of Defense (DOD). A review will be conducted for all newly awarded federal grants before the funds are released. The requirement for congruence review prior to award is also applicable to renewal applications. Sponsored Programs (SP) will not look retrospectively at grants already on existing protocols. Contact SP with grant related questions at sponsoredprograms.ep@ttuhsc.edu.
For NIH/NSF applications, a 1:1 association between the grant and the approved protocol is not required; one grant may be associated with more than one protocol and vice versa. For DoD applications, the Principal Investigator (PI) may need to submit a new protocol to keep a 1:1 grant to protocol congruence for the entire funding period; the PI should be mindful of the timeline required to review a new protocol.
What do I do if my work is part of a collaboration with another institution?
If the animal work is to be completed at another institution as part of a subaward, then that institution’s PI must provide the approved IACUC protocol to the Texas Tech Health El Paso PI. The IACUC will work with the Texas Tech Health El Paso PI to verify that the procedures listed in the award are approved in that institution's protocol. It is the PI’s responsibility to provide the appropriate approvals from collaborating institutions. SP will coordinate with the other institution’s SP for any further follow-up.
How do I get my funding released as quickly as possible?
As soon as the PI learns that he or she has a score that is likely in the fundable range, the PI should initiate the congruency review process. This is done by submitting an iRIS amendment for grant congruency review with the Vertebrate Animal Section & Research Strategy (VAS-RS), describing the animal studies of the funded grant, and attaching a copy of the submitted proposal. These will be reviewed. The animal studies in the proposal will be compared with the corresponding animal protocol(s).
If no relevant discrepancies are noted, the PI will receive an iRIS outcome letter which provides confirmation that the grant is congruent with the protocol(s) and will provide the approval date(s). If discrepancies are noted, the PI will be notified of the items and the PI will need to amend the protocol(s) before the approval date(s) can be provided.
NOTE: The PI is the only person on campus who receives notification of fundable scores. Therefore, it is the PI’s responsibility to initiate the congruency review at this early stage. Otherwise, the review process will not start until SP receives the award documents from the sponsor. This will increase the possibility of a delay in NIH or PHS releasing the funds.
Who is conducting this congruency check?
At Texas Tech Health El Paso, congruency checks are conducted by designated IACUC member(s) (e.g. Institutional Veterinarian). Once the PI receives notification that their grant may be funded, they will need to submit the request through iRIS for the congruency review. PI’s are encouraged not to wait until Just-In-Time (JIT) notification to avoid delays.
How is congruence between grant proposals and animal activity protocols verified?
Congruence will be evaluated for several important parts of protocols and proposals. The Vertebrate Animal Section and the Approach part of the Research Strategy Section are the primary areas of the grant that will be compared with the protocol. The information to be reviewed include:
- Scope of the study with animals – disease area, target organs,
- Number of animals, Species and sex
- List of agents which will be administered (including anesthetics, analgesics and experimental drugs or vectors)
- Techniques or procedures involved to administer the agent
- Surgical or other procedures that will be performed on animals
- Euthanasia Method
What if I am notified that my grant is not congruent with my approved animal protocol?
SP will work closely with investigators to clarify information on the grant proposal. The IACUC will provide the PI with information needed and the PI is responsible for submitting the modifications to be consistent with the grant.
What if the animal work is not anticipated to occur until later in the award?
PHS policy requires all animal work to be covered in an approved IACUC protocol, including what will be planned for years 4 or 5 of an award. In these cases, NIH has issued guidance that only a summary of the later work is necessary to comply with this policy. This is the preferred and more expatiated method of completing this requirement. However, other options do exist:
In rare cases, IACUC review of animal activities is conducted later in the life cycle of a grant or contract. IACUC review may be delayed if the animal activities will not occur until a year or later in the award period as part of the research design described in the grant application or contract proposal (e.g., the initial development of a drug or device with subsequent animal testing projected into the future). In these circumstances, the funding agency will issue a Notice of Award with special terms and conditions indicating that no funds may be drawn from the grant or contract for animal activities until a valid IACUC approval date and/or approved protocol has been provided to the prime funding agency or lead funding institution (when a subaward is issued).
I already obtained an approval date; can I just include it in my proposal?
Even if you received the approval date, it cannot be submitted to the funding agency
until a congruency has been confirmed by the IACUC. If the proposal has not yet been
reviewed and/or selected for funding, please put the word “pending” in the area that
requests an IACUC approval date. Once the proposal has been selected for funding AND
the final version decided upon, then a congruency request can be made to the IACUC.
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