IACUC

How often does the IACUC meet?

The committee is scheduled to meet monthly on the 4th Wednesday of each month.  

What is the deadline for submitting an IACUC protocol for review by the committee?

A protocol application can be submitted anytime during the month, but must be received by the 6th of the month by 12:00am for consideration in the upcoming IACUC meeting.  Protocols received and not selected for Designated Member Review after this deadline are likely not to be reviewed until the following meeting. 

What is the average time for IACUC review and approval?

On average, IACUC approval is received within 3-4 weeks of protocol submission.  Approval times vary depending on the completeness of the protocol and the efficiency of the PI in addressing the committee’s questions regarding the submitted protocol.  It is recommended that you plan for 4-6 weeks to obtain approval.

When are IACUC inspections?

The IACUC conducts on-site inspections and evaluation of facilities and programs where vertebrate animals are housed and used each April and October.

• The PHS Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and regulations under the Animal Welfare Act are the main documents utilized by our IACUC in its evaluations.
• Faculty who use animals should expect visits to their laboratories by a small group of IACUC members every 6 months (April and October).  In addition to looking at the research facilities and activities during the lab inspection, site visitors may discuss animal use procedures in the approved protocol(s) with staff and students.
• Researchers can also expect examination of research records, cage cards, drugs, and materials associated with animal care and use.

Protocol Congruency Review

What is grant protocol congruency?

It is a requirement of both PHS Policy and the NIH Grants Policy Statement to ensure that an in vivo project that has been selected to be funded is congruent with an approved Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol(s). 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 the Institution has verified that the proposal and the protocol(s) are congruent. 

Please ensure before submitting initial IACUC protocol or amendment submissions that the scope of work, species, numbers, agents and methods for them, procedures, and euthanasia methods are congruent between the grant proposal and submission.  Note that in general, the grant proposal descriptions will be broad and the IACUC protocol more specific.

To initiate an IACUC congruency review, the following procedures should be followed:

• A Congruency Request Form should be completed.  The completed request form and a copy of the proposal (research methods/specific aims and vertebrate animals sections) should be emailed to the IACUC office.
• A designee of the IACUC office will compare the animal use in the proposal with the corresponding IACUC protocol(s) and provide a letter that verifies the congruency of the documents.  This congruency letter includes the protocol approval date that can be provided to the funding agency.
• Minor discrepancies – If minor discrepancies are noted, the Principal Investigator will be notified of these items, but a congruency letter will be provided so that the approval date can be released.
• Significant discrepancies – If significant discrepancies are noted, the Principal Investigator will be notified and will need to amend the protocol(s) OR the proposal before the approval date(s) can be released.

What do I do if my work is part of a collaboration with another institution?

The congruency requirement is always applicable, but there may be different routes to take depending on the characteristics of the proposal. If the proposal includes animal activities to be performed at another institution, the IACUC staff members will help you determine how to proceed. Please follow the same steps as described above, by submitting the Congruency Request Form and the final version of the proposal to the IACUC office, but also let us know of all other in vivo collaborations and performance sites.

If the University of Utah is the primary recipient of the funding, then the IACUC office will need the IACUC protocol (or equivalent) and confirmation of approval from the collaborating institution(s). Additionally, a formal written document, called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), must be signed by both institutions before the approval date(s) can be released. If you have any questions or wish to initiate the MOU process, please contact the IACUC office.

I already know my approval date, so can’t I just include it in my proposal?

Even if you know the approval date, it cannot be submitted to the funding agency until a congruency has been confirmed by the IACUC office. 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.

The protocol approval letter is not a verification of grant congruence and should not be used to indicate to granting agencies that grant congruence verification was performed. Please contact the IACUC iacuc@ocm.utah.edu to request a letter confirming grant congruence.

I have already sent the protocol approval date regarding this proposal, why are they asking for it again?

Some agencies ask for IACUC approval dates on annual basis or any time the animal work has changed. Some agencies even keep track of the when the protocol expires and therefore ask for the congruency review to be completed again for the de novo animal protocol even if the proposal hasn’t changed.  Whenever an approval date is requested, it means that a congruency review must be performed again and a new congruency letter submitted.

I have received a document that requests protocol title and approval date with signatures from the IACUC Chair and the Institutional Official.

This may be an Inter-Institutional Agreement, which means that an outside entity is receiving funds from NIH and they want to use one of our Public Health Service (PHS) Assurance numbers in order to receive the funding. This is another version of a collaborative agreement, but with specific requirements from the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) at NIH. This and any documents that need IACUC information should be submitted to the IACUC office for completion and final submission. Only the IACUC office has authorization to complete a form that requires IACUC information.

Do I need a congruency review if my proposal involves custom antibody generation?

Yes, a review is necessary since the primary recipient’s IACUC is responsible for the use of the animals needed for custom antibody production, even if it is conducted off-site.