The Insititutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) is a standing committee of Duke University &
Duke University Medical Center.
The composition and responsibilities if the IACUC are
mandated by the Animal Welfare Act (Public Law 98-198).
By law, the IACUC must be composed of, at a minimum, three
members: a Chairperson, a veterinarian with training or
experience in laboratory animal medicine, and a non-affiliated
member. A Committee of this size would not be able to
accomplish the numerous regulatory tasks required of the
Committee. To share the responsibility as well as the work
load of the Committee, the Duke IACUC is composed of 29 voting
members, plus alternates, for each of the following roles:
Scientists
Veterinarians
Community representatives
Statisticians
Research technicians
The IACUC utilizes consultants, when required, for specific
protocol review or committee advice. The consultant may
offer opinions and advice, but may not vote on any application
or use.
According to the 9th Code of Federal Regulations, it is the responsibility
of the Chief Executive Officer of the Institution
(in our case, the Chancellor) to appoint all members of the
IACUC, and the Institutional Official (IO). IACUC minutes and
reports are reviewed by the Institutional Official of our
program.
As a decision making body, the IACUC ensures that all
animals in experimental research are used appropriately and are
treated in accordance with the highest standards of humane care.
The IACUC has empowered the Office of Animal Welfare Assurance
(OAWA) to investigate and review concerns with animal use
activities, provide training for researchers and their staff,
assist researchers with meeting the expectations of the IACUC,
and facilitate interactions with regulatory agencies.
The IACUC represents society's concerns regarding the
welfare of animal subjects used... and is expected to be the
conscience for the institute on animal welfare concerns.
The IACUC is reponsible for keeping abreast of changes in
animal use legislation and guidelines and recommending
modifications to the institution's program to ensure that
research and the animal use program fully comply with the letter
and the spirit of the law.
The IACUC is not a scientific review group, per se.
All projects receive mission related and scientifically sound
reviews prior to reaching the IACUC. However, humane
tratment and scientific methodology are closely related and
often inseparable concepts. Therefore, the Committee may
discuss and review science as it related specifically to animal
use.
While the IACUC has numerous responsibilities in terms of
program oversight, the duty most identified with the IACUC is
protocol review. The IACUC conducts a thourough and
comprehensive review of all new proposals and amendments to
existing protocols.
All continuing protocols also receive annual review to
ensure that no significant deviations from established and
approved procedures have occured. All principal
investigators are required to complete an annual review report
as part of this process.
When reviewing protocols, the IACUC ensures that:
all procedures involving animals will avoid
or minimize pain and distress to the animal (s);
the principal investigator has considered
alternatives to procedures that cause more than moemntary pain
or distress to the animals;
the principal investigator has provided
written assurance that the protocol propsed does not
unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments;
approporate anesthetics and analgesics are
used when necessary;
personnel are properly trained to
perform the proposed procedures;
activities that involve surgery provide for
appropriate pre-operative and post-operative care and that
aseptic practices are followed;
that methods of euthanasia are consistent
with methods set forth by the
"American Veterinary Medical Association's Panel on Euthanasia.
The IACUC is required to inspect, at least once every six
months, the research institute's animal facilities, including
animal study areas, which are defines as any area in which
animal work is performed. Not only is the physical
facility inspected, such as animal housing and facility
maintenance, but the entire animal program is reviewed.
This involves reviewing animal health records, observing
surgery, reviewing post-operative recrds, and reviewing the
biosafety, chemical safety, radiation safety, and occupational
health program, as well as all USDA insepctions, AAALAC program
reviews and assessments, deficiencies, if noted, and repsonses
to those deficiencies in order to ensure compliance with the
Animal Welfare Act, Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
and Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals.
The IACUC makes a written report of its findings, which must
be signed by a majority of committee members and must include
any minority views, if these views are expressed during the
program inspection. This report is submitted to the IO for
review. The results of the IACUC inspections are
transmitted to individual Care Faculty Managers with
recommendations or suggestions for improvement or corrections of
noted, and time frames for response. Problem areas not
satisfactory resolved by this communication mechanism are
subsequently transmitted (with recommendations) to the IO for
ultimate resolution.
The IACUC reviews and investigates, if necessary, any
concerns involving the care and use of animals at the research
institute resulting from complaints or reports of noncompliance.
The IACUC has the authority to suspend an activity that
previously approved if it determines that the activity is not
being conducted in accordance with the description provided by
the investigator in his/her protocol.
To send comments to the IACUC, you can use
IACUC@duke.edu