Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who needs to fill out an IACC protocol?
Anyone at Memorial (student or faculty) engaged in research using animals must submit a protocol, even if the work is being conducted at another institution. Only faculty members may sign a protocol and should be listed as the principle investigator, even on Ph.D. thesis research.
If you are new to this procedure, please contact your committee member or Animal Care Services (ACS) or the chair of the Institutional Animal Care Committee (IACC). An important consideration in this process is the CCAC rating of the work you are proposing. Ethical cost of animal research is rated according to a code provided by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) from A (least costly) to E (most costly). Procedures rated A require only a memo with a description of the proposed work, B-E rated require a full protocol submission using the forms available from the ACS.
When are protocols required?
Before starting any work with animals you must submit and have approved an IACC protocol. Protocols must be submitted to ACS one week prior to the IACC meeting for the month in which the protocol is submitted. Dates of monthly IACC meetings are posted on the ACS web page. The IACC meets monthly except for the months of July and August. Work to be initiated or renewed in these months must have a protocol reviewed and approved at the June meeting at the latest. Reminders to renew protocols are sent by ACS to investigators, but timely new protocol submissions are the responsibility of the investigator.
What do protocols cover?
While investigators may be involved in multi year projects, a protocol should be for work being done in the current year only. Protocol approvals are for one year. Each year, if the work is continued, protocols must be resubmitted in their entirety for renewal. The IACC does not refer to previous protocol submissions in its reviews. Each protocol submission must stand on its own. If there are many projects ongoing in one year, only those that are related should be covered in a single protocol. It may be necessary to
submit a number of protocols for a wide ranging series of studies in a given year.
Guidelines for types of information about procedures using animals required in the
protocol appear in the memo from Dr. Robert Adamec. One important issue is justification of numbers of animals to be used. The IACC prefers clear listing of groups, group sizes and clear specification of numbers of animals in each group be provided. If possible, use a table format. Power analysis justifying group sizes is helpful. Ethical cost is judged not only on the types of procedures, but on the numbers of animals on which the procedures are done.
What is the review process?
The IACC is charged with balancing ethical cost and scientific gain and with ensuring compliance with CCAC guidelines covering such things as methods of anesthesia, euthanasia and environmental enrichment, to name a few. The scientific gain is provided by peer review, which is not a function of the IACC. So your work must have been peer reviewed (see the IACC protocol form for details on peer review). As a word of advice, it is best to write a brief introduction of the proposed work putting it into scientific context and point out its value and importance to the field. This helps the IACC in making ethical cost/scientific gain judgments. The IACC may question, ask for further justification, or request changes of procedure deemed too ethically costly. Investigators are welcome to rebut such requests with reasoned arguments, but the final decision is in the hands of the IACC. Nevertheless, IACC decisions are never made arbitrarily or unmindful of investigators reasonable arguments.
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