Laboratory Animal Welfare Training

 

2022 SUMMER SCHEDULE FOR IRB and IACUC

The IRB and IACUC will at a reduced capacity during June and July of 2022.  Please refer to the summer schedule page for important information (Click here)

 

 

The training requirements for conducting animal research at MTSU are:
  • A general understanding of laboratory animal welfare
    • History, laws and other government regulations pertaining to Animal Welfare Act
    • Procedures and practices in support of good science
    • Assure humane care and safe handling of animal subjects
    • Knowledge in the species to be included in the study
    • Creates understanding to implement the three R’s – reduce, replace & refine
    • Definition of pain and distress - click here for more
  • Awareness of health hazards in animal research
  • Knowledge of occupational health & safety

Who must take IACUC training?

Click here to learn

 

Where to obtain IACUC training certification?

MTSU uses CITI Program for trainings its students and faculty on humane animal care. The researchers must visit www.citiprogram.org and register for a new account if they do not have one already.  

How to set up a new CITI Program account?

  1. Click here to learn how
  2.  
  3. In most instances, the Office of Research Compliance will be able to access your course completion information.  However, be prepared to provide proof of certification if directed by IRB or the Office of Research Compliance.
  4. Click here to view the CITI Program's information document 
  5. In addition to the CITI program, the researchers can obtain more information on the requirement for complying with MTSU's practices on animal research can be directly obtained from OLAW by clicking here.

Training Requirements

The IACUC requires all individuals who would use vertebrate animals for the purpose of research, testing and teaching must have received adequate and appropriate laboratory animal welfare training.  MTSU uses the third CITI program to satisfy this mandatory federal requirement.   The Principal Investigator (PI) or the faculty sponsor (if the primary investigator is a student) must enforce this requirement without any exceptions.  The PIs or the faculty sponsors must also maintain proper training records for their entire research team and they should also enforce that the training dates are up to date.  

Mandatory Course(s) 

The training schedule for each type of applicant are shown in the following table.  Click on each training course to know the mandatory modules

Applicant Type

 

CITI Training Course(s) and Module(s)

IACUC Member

 
Essentials for IACUC Members
 
IACUC Officer/Administrator
 
Institutional Official: Animal Care and Use
 
Teaches with animals
 
 
Animal Researcher  
(2) a species-specific training specific to your research subject** AND 
(3) Working with Animals in Biomedical Research
 
Conducts Research with Mice & Rats
 
(2) a species-specific training specific to your research subject** AND
(3) Working with animals in biomedical research AND
(4) Reducing Pain and Distress in Laboratory Mice and Rats - Basic Course
 
Conducts Survival Surgery  Research
 
(2) a species-specific training specific to your research subject** AND
(3) Working with animals in biomedical research AND
(4) Reducing Pain and Distress in Laboratory Mice and Rats - Basic Course AND  
(5) Aseptic Surgery module

 

All the training modules given in bold are mandatory for each type of IACUC applicant.  Currently, the CITI Program only offers a select list of species-specific training courses.  Depending on your research (testing or teaching), the IACUC may require the applicants to provide additional certification in the event the study involves a species for which there are no ready-made modules available through the CITI training program.  

 

**Available species-specific training in CITI:

  • Frogs, toads or other amphibians
  • Mice family: Muridae cricetidae
  • Rats: Genus Rattus
  • Hamsters: Family Muridae
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea Pigs
  • Rabbits: Family Leporidae
  • Cats
  • Dogs
  • Swine
  • Non-human primates (NHP)
  • Zebrafish

Contact iacuc_information@mtsu.edu for further information if your species is not listed above

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Phone: 615-494-8918

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