Below is a summary of the 6 requirements that all personnel wishing to work with laboratory animals and/or gain facility access must complete. Note: Principal Investigators on an animal use proposal must complete these requirements regardless of whether they will be directly working animals.
Once you have completed all of the steps below, you will have fulfilled the IACUC training requirements and a request may be submitted to add you to an IACUC Proposal in iRIS. Your Principal Investigator or Laboratory Manager MUST submit a request to have you added to an IACUC Proposal, and you will receive an email from iRIS once you are approved. You may NOT perform any of the work until you have received approval. After you are approved as a project participant on a proposal in iRIS, you can submit a facility access request.
1. Complete the following 2 courses in CITI Program:
-
Working with the IACUC (also known as "Level II Training") -
All personnel wishing to work with laboratory animals and requesting access into animal facilities must complete this training before they will be approved as project participants and granted facility access.
This course is designed to ensure that individuals understand the principles of humane animal care and are qualified to handle the species proposed for use. All research personnel listed on an animal-use proposal must complete the course before they can participate on an animal research study. In addition, refresher training is required every three years to ensure that all personnel working with animals stay informed of the regulatory requirements. Those who have not met training requirements at the time of proposal submission are informed of the need to do so during the proposal review process; animal use privileges are contingent upon meeting the IACUC training requirements.
See the IACUC policy "Required Training" for further information about Level II "Working with the IACUC".
- Occupational Health and Safety Training for Animal Handlers
This course is one of two parts of the Occupational Health and Safety Program (OHSP) and must be completed by all participants working with animals.
See the IACUC policy "Individual Risk Assessment and Medical Surveillance" for further information about the UofL OHSP.
Instructions for Registering a NEW CITI Account for Level II and OHS(for users who do not have a CITI account) NOTE: You must register with the UofL ID version of your email address (e.g., t0tull01@louisville.edu).
Instructions for Adding new courses to an EXISTING CITI Account for Level II and OHS(for users who already have a CITI account)
2. Complete the Periodic Animal Health Survey.
The Periodic Animal Health Survey is the second part of the OHSP.
Health surveys should be submitted directly to Campus Health via email to immunize@louisville.edu with the subject line "Animal Contact Health Survey"
NOTE: Health Surveys may take 1-2 weeks to process due to COVID responsibilities of Campus Health as well as student return to campus.
3. Complete an IACUC Participant Training Attestation
This is used to record your experience and training on all procedures assigned to personnel on IACUC proposals. Each procedure should be a separate entry. All training and experience should be species-specific. Any procedures for which you will be assigned responsibility, but have not yet had training should never be performed independently prior to training. Note: you should periodically update your training attestation to reflect all newly-obtained training. The attestation template can be found HERE.
All IACUC Participant Training Logs should be emailed to the IACUC Office at IACUC@louisville.edu. Please send as the file name "Last Name, First Name - IACUC Training Log."
Note: The IACUC Participant Training Log website is no longer accessible. The Office was able to recover some files. If you need to update a training log, please contact the IACUC office to see if any version of your training log was recovered. It should also be noted that the recovered version may not be your most recent update.
4. Complete Euthanasia Training, if applicable.
If you are responsible for euthanasia, you must attend a hands-on euthanasia training session with CMRU veterinary faculty/staff or an CMRU-certified euthanasia trainer. Register to take a euthanasia training course with the CMRU here.
5. Complete Rodent Surgery Training, if applicable.
If you are responsible for performing surgery (both survival and non-survival) on rodents, you must complete IACUC-mandated training requirements:
- CITI Program Course: “Post-Procedure Care of Mice and Rats in Research: Minimizing Pain and Distress” (Only required for Survival Surgery)
- CITI Program Course: “Rodent Aseptic Surgery" (see instructions in #1 above to register for a CITI Account and add courses)
- Rodent Surgery I and II, or Surgery Observation [Register for courses here]
6. Complete Rodent Biomethodology Training, if applicable.
If you are responsible for handling rodents, you must complete the IACUC-mandated hands-on training session with CMRU veterinary faculty/staff. [Registration for this course here]
Educational information about the Occupational Health and Safety Program
All personnel wishing to work with laboratory animals and requesting access into animal facilities must complete this training before they will be approved as project participants and granted facility access. Level II Training is now offered online through CITI Program as a set of courses titled “Working with the IACUC.”Currently, no in-person training sessions are planned and all Level II Training should be completed online, unless a special request is made through the IACUC office for an in-person session.
Level II is designed to ensure that individuals understand the principles of humane animal care and are qualified to handle the species proposed for use. All research personnel listed on an animal-use proposal must complete the "Level II" course before they can participate on an animal research study. In addition, Level II refresher training is required every three years to ensure that all personnel working with animals stay informed of the regulatory requirements. Those who have not met training requirements at the time of proposal submission are informed of the need to do so during the proposal review process; animal use privileges are contingent upon meeting the IACUC training requirements.
See the IACUC policy "Required Training" for further information about Level II "Working with the IACUC".
The University has a multidisciplinary approach to assessing hazards associated with the use of animals and potentially hazardous agents. Animal facilities are designed with engineering controls over potential hazards; operational practices and personal protective equipment (PPE) augment this control. For example, research personnel working in animal facilities are required to wear a clean laboratory coat or disposable gown as minimal protection. Disposable gloves are available in all animal-housing rooms; their use is strongly encouraged during any animal handling activities. Depending on the health status of the animals involved or the use of hazardous agents in research, additional PPE may be required, such as additional disposable gowns, masks, shoe covers, and special gloves (e.g., nitrile). Project-specific PPE requirements are outlined in individual Special Animal Safety Protocols (SASPs).
Your understanding of potential hazards in animals and animal facilities does not prepare you to mitigate risks associated with your personal medical status. Conditions such as pregnancy, immune-suppression, and preexisting allergies may increase risks of occupationally-acquired illness. The Individual Risk Assessment allows individualized risk assessment by an OHS Physician. You are encouraged to complete a new Periodic Animal Contact Health Survey if your health or medical status changes in any way. You will be required to submit a new survey at least once every three years.
NOTE: The IACUC provides oversight for enrollment in the OHSP related to animal subjects. IACUC-approved animal use privileges are contingent upon complete enrollment. Failure to re-enroll will result in administrative removal as a participant in associated Proposals and thereby loss of animal use privileges. Failure of Principal Investigator enrollment or re-enrollment will result in administrative inactivation of all pertinent Proposals and thereby loss of animal use privileges for the laboratory. The CMRU also assists in monitoring by controlling facility access; access into central vivaria is not granted until individuals have completed the enrollment process (i.e., completion of OHS, Level II Training and the Periodic Animal Contact Health Survey). The CMRU will also be instructed to remove access to animal facilities for individuals failing to re-enroll.
See the IACUC policies "Individual Risk Assessment and Medical Surveillance" and "Required Training" for further information about OHSP. Note: Some activities may require general safety training provided by DEHS, such as General Laboratory Safety / Hazardous Waste Training, General Bloodborne Pathogen Training, and Radiation Training.
he IACUC Participant Training Logis used to document species- and procedure-specific training; each animal user must maintain an IACUC Participant Training Log. This Log should describe prior experience for which specific procedure proficiency was obtained and outline each newly-acquired training. IACUC Participant Training Logs must be made available to the IACUC upon request. Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring that training is obtained and documented prior to a Participant performing any animal-related procedures unsupervised. Participants conducting procedure for which the Log does not record an appropriate level of training may also lose animal use privileges. Note: Users can now assign editors to their training log. Instructions on how to assign editing or viewing privileges is available HERE.
Information regarding available training sessions is available HERE.
CMRU-certified euthanasia trainers should document any training sessions they conduct with the Euthanasia Training Sign-In Sheet and promptly email the IACUC Office after the sessions with the sign-in sheet of participants and species-specific methods of euthanasia taught.