Animal Users

It is federal and institutional policy that all animal users be trained in both the biology of the species to be used and in all procedures that users are expected to perform when they work with laboratory animals.  The IACUC requires ALL animal users to attend a 3-hour initial training class.  This class is a 3-part training session that covers:  (1) the animal care program and the IACUC (including the laws and regulations that govern such research in the US); (2) working with the Center for Comparative Medicine; and (3) working safely with research animals.  Animal users only have to take this program once while they are at UConn Health.  This 3-hour initial class is in-person.

It is mandatory that every year, individuals who use laboratory animals take an online renewal training.

Many people take courses through the CITI program.  Please note that these courses do not meet initial or renewal training criteria set by the UCH IACUC.  These courses are only accepted for meeting training requirements when they are assigned by the IACUC office.  Feel free to take the CITI courses – they are very informative.  But they will not replace UCH IACUC-required trainings.

All animal users are required to document the procedural training they have received from their PIs or senior laboratory members.  It is the responsibility of all animal users to document this training (you can use the “Animal training records form” below) and provide a copy of this training to the IACUC upon request.  Procedural training may be a mixture of observation and hands-on activity; however, being trained means that the individual is proficient in the procedure and can perform the procedure to the satisfaction of the PI and/or veterinarian and/or veterinary staff.  If an individual does not have training, do not upload an incorrect training log; simply state in the “responsibilities” section of the personnel page of the protocol e-form the procedures they will be expected to do and state that those procedures will not be performed independently until the individual is appropriately trained and training submitted to the IACUC upon request.

• Information for New Animal Users
• Animal Users Training Handbook (PDF)
• Quick Takes Training
• Initial Training Schedule
• Online Renewal Training
• Expired Drug Training
• Animal Training Records Form (For Animal Procedures)

The UConn Health Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is federally mandated to review work with recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids.

This committee meets monthly, usually on the second Thursday of the month. Exceptions are noted (*). Receive forms from and submit to ibc@uchc.edu by the submission deadline.

Upcoming meetings 2026/7:

If you are a person interested in or concerned about this type of research, you are invited to attend a meeting of the UCONN Health IBC. Meetings will be held virtually for the foreseeable future. Please contact IBC@uchc.edu for more information.

WCG Institutional Biosafety Committee Services and Advarra Instituional Biosafety Committee Services periodically convene Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) meetings on behalf of UConn Health to review research conducted under the NIH Guidelines. In accordance with NIH requirements, IBC meetings are open to the public, and the dates, times, and locations of upcoming meetings will be publicly posted in designated areas within UConn Health facilities to ensure transparency and public awareness.  (Link to Advarra Minutes)

Meeting Minutes:

2025

• June 2025 – UCH IBC
• July 2025 – UCH IBC
• August 2025 – UCH IBC
• September 2025 – UCH IBC
• October 2025 – UCH IBC
• October 2025 – WCG IBC
• November 2025 – UCH IBC
• December 2025 – UCH IBC

2026

• January 2026 – UCH IBC
• February 2026 – UCH IBC
• March 2026 – UCH IBC
• April 2026 – UCH IBC
• May 2026 – UCH IBC
• June 2026 – UCH IBC
• July 2026 – UCH IBC
• August 2026 – UCH IBC
• September 2026 – UCH IBC
• October 2026 – UCH IBC
• November 2026 – UCH IBC
• December 2026 – UCH IBC

As required by NOT-OD-25-082, effective June 1, 2025, approved IBC meeting minutes may be accessed by the public.

FAQs about IBC meetings and minutes is available on the NIH OSP website. In particular, refer to “What is the expected content of IBC minutes?” UCH follows this guidance.

This page gives you some facts and a strategy for what you need to do about compliance when working with rsNA.

FACTS

• If you will be working with rsNA and funded by NIH or working at an Institution where work involving rsNA is funded by NIH (like it is at UConn Health), you are working under the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic DNA Molecules (NIH rsNA Guidelines). Compliance to these guidelines is required as a condition of NIH funding (and that of many other agencies) for research involving rsNA at the whole institution.
• Institutions (UConn Health), Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs) and Principal Investigators (PIs) are all responsible for compliance under the NIH rsNA Guidelines.
• All faculty are required to take the PI Biosafety & Biosecurity training available at the CITI training site every three years. Contact the BioSafety Program Coordinator if you need assistance with this.
• Many rsNA experiments are exempt to the NIH rsNA Guidelines, but some that you might think are exempt may not be. Experiments that are not exempt need to be registered with the IBC before they are started. In some cases the application needs only to be submitted and accepted by the IBC before work may start.
• Viral Vector rsNA experiments need to be registered with the IBC.

STRATEGY (What to Do and Not Do)

• Determine if your experiment or set of experiments is exempt or not exempt.
• If you know your experiment(s) is not exempt, contact the BioSafety Program Coordinator to begin the registration process.
• Even if you believe your experiment(s) is exempt (or safe or used elsewhere), please contact the BioSafety Program Coordinator. The only way for a PI to be sure they have done all they can to ensure their compliance with the NIH rsNA Molecules Guidelines, is for the IBC to determine that the PI’s experiment is exempt and document it. Fortunately, exempt research can undergo an administrative review which can facilitate the process.
• Do not begin any rsNA work without UCH IBC authorization or determination that the work is exempt by the Biosafety Office.

 Additional information regarding the IBC and rsNA experiments

• About IBCs and the UConn Health IBC
• Contact the IBC
• IBC meetings are monthly. See the Meeting Dates for more information.
• rsNA in Animal Care Protocols
• NIH Office of Science Policy (OSP) homepage
• Useful Definitions

Please direct all submissions to the BioSafety Program Coordinator.

Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL)

NIH Office of Science Policy (OSP)

NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules

American Biological Safety Association (ABSA Risk Group Database plus…)

Canadian Pathogen Safety Data Sheets (PSDS)

CDC/USDA Select Agent Program (Look under “Select Agents and Toxins”)

Biological Exposure/Spill Emergency Plans

Computer-based Biosafety Training

 
 CDC Permits: CDC moved to a new permitting application, BioPermit.  You can still print your previous application in SAMS, in fact it’s recommended that you download a copy of your existing permit.  BioPermit must be completed in one sitting, meaning get all your information together so you can complete your application in one sitting.  They are working on this issue. The CDC has provided a training session which can be found towards the bottom of  Applying for an Import Permit: BioPermit under Resources. 

Please contact the BioSafety Program Coordinator for all IBC forms.

For Chemical or Biosafety Animal Safety Protocols create a protocol in InfoEd. The forms for this are listed there.