May 25, 2016

On Thursday, May 19, the U-M Board of Regents approved the appointment of William Greer to the newly created position of Assistant Vice President for Research - Animal Program Compliance Oversight, in the University of Michigan Office of Research, effective June 1, 2016.

Bill also serves as Director of the Animal Care and Use Office (ACUO), providing leadership and management of the oversight programs for the protection of animals involved in research at the University. In partnership with the Attending Veterinarian and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Mr. Greer will lead the ACUO in fostering an environment of engagement, support, and service to the research community.

Bill has extensive experience in animal care and use programs as well as biosafety and radiation research compliance programs. He is an active ad hoc Consultant to the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International Council, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors and the President of the IACUC Administrators Association.

CLICK HERE to read the full announcement.

Please join us in welcoming Bill to the U-M community.

Latest Animal Care & Use Program Activities:

Recent USDA Inspection Offers Two Teachable Moments

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which conducts annual, unannounced inspections of our animal facilities, was here the week of May 2 and May 16 to visit our facilities and review the animal program as it relates to the Animal Welfare Act and Regulations. U-M was not given any programmatic citations, however, U-M's USDA inspector emphasized two teachable moments (i.e., little things that can become big things if not properly addressed immediately):

IACUC Review of Justification for More Than One Surgery. This pertains to the IACUC's review of justification for more than one surgery on an animal to ensure that it is scientifically necessary. After discussion of this issue, the IACUC has determined that these types of justifications need to be described in greater detail in the protocol.

Additional Doses of Analgesics. The second teachable moment was in regard to additional doses of analgesics being provided to the animal as written in the protocol, even if the animal did not appear to need additional doses. Analgesic administration MUST occur as it is written and approved by the IACUC. Failure to do so will be considered non-compliance with the approved protocol.

If you have any questions about analgesic administration, please contact your Regulatory Compliance Associate in the Animal Care and Use Office and/or your facility veterinarian.

Questions about this or other USDA inspection visits should be directed to the Animal Care and Use Office at acuoffice@umich.edu.

New Animal Care and Use Training Requirement

Maintaining a comprehensive education and training program to ensure that all staff are using best practices in animal care and use was part of our animal program strategic plan and a major factor in the commitment to improvement we made to the AAALAC Council on Accreditation.

To that end, ALL faculty and staff working under an IACUC animal use protocol, regardless of whether or not they directly handle laboratory animals, are required to complete an online course in MLearning called "ULAM-60000 Orientation for Animal Care & Use Refresher." This course provides an overview of animal research oversight, standards, regulations, institutional policies, and expectations for our animal research community.

The only faculty or staff who will be exempt from taking the course are those who completed "ULAM-10000 Orientation for Animal Care & Use" after May 1, 2015.

Individuals will be notified by email with training DUE as follows:

Principal Investigators (Last Name A - M)	July 15, 2016
Principal Investigators (Last Name N - Z)	August 19, 2016
Staff (Last Name A - I)	September 18, 2016
Staff (Last Name J - R)	October 18, 2016
Staff (Last Name S - Z)	November 19, 2016

You are highly encouraged to complete this training early to avoid a possible non-compliance notification.

CLICK HERE for additional details, including step-by-step instructions for completing your training. A reminder flyer to print and post in your area is also available here (PDF download).

If you have any questions, please contact the ULAM Training Core via email at ulam-trainingcore@umich.edu or phone at (734) 763-8039.

Policy & Procedure Updates

The Procedures for Animal Transportation have been updated
as follows:

A new section on inter-facility transport of animals undergoing post-procedural monitoring, and

A requirement that such animals be cleared for transportation by the veterinary staff has been added.

Additional information about Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), U-M policies, and recommended guidelines for the U-M animal research community can be found here.

Beuthanasia-D on Manufacturer's Backorder

The commonly used euthanasia agent Beuthanasia-D has been reported to be on manufacturer's backorder for an indeterminate period of time. If you routinely use this product in your experiments, you may need to find a substitution such as Euthasol or FatalPlus until the backorder is resolved. Please consult with your area faculty veterinarian regarding any substitutions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Questions or concerns about these or other policies and procedures should be directed to ULAM-QUESTIONS@umich.edu or (734) 764-0277.

REAL Receives GLAS Grant

U-M's Refinements and Enrichment Advancements Laboratory (REAL) was recently awarded a 2016 Grant for Laboratory Animal Science (GLAS) for its Novel Cage-Side Assessments of Post-Operative Pain in Mice project. The study is aimed at further developing an objective, realtime, point-of-care post-operative pain scoring system in mice. The ability to accurately assess pain in mice is critical for providing optimal care and welfare to the most widely utilized species in research.

The study will begin in the summer and will be lead by Jennifer Lofgren, D.V.M., DACLAM,
with the assistance of a new technician and a summer veterinary student.

REAL was co-founded by Dr. Lofgren and Dr. Jean Nemzek, and is one of the first programs in the country dedicated to optimizing biomedical research efforts through improved animal well-being by understanding the animal's lived experience and the scientific results.

There's Still Time! Take Our Brief Communications Survey for a Chance to Win $50 from Amazon.com

The Animal Care & Use Program has crafted a brief customer satisfaction survey to better understand our community's communication needs and usage habits as they pertain to animal care and use at U-M. If you have not already completed the survey, please take a moment to do so.

Your feedback will inform our efforts to re-design the website and refine communications to the U-M community. Plus, every person who submits a completed survey will be entered automatically in a drawing to win a $50 Amazon.com gift card!

Thank you for your feedback.

Animal Research Spotlight

Who gets hooked on drugs and who stays clean?
A new study from the U-M Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds genetic markers in rats that influence addiction.

Though they studied addiction in specially bred rats, not humans, the researchers say their findings help bolster the evidence that addiction and relapse have a strong genetic component -- both inherited and influenced by the act of taking drugs. Read more.

For more information about the Animal Care & Use Program at the University of Michigan, CLICK HERE.

Our mission in the Animal Care & Use Office is to support the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee, fostering sustained excellence in animal care and use in scientific research and education, and promoting the philosophy that the highest animal welfare standards are necessary for impactful science.