Submitting an Animal Use Protocol

All instances of live vertebrate animal use in research, teaching, and/or testing must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) prior to beginning such work. Review of an Animal Care and Use Protocol by the IACUC is required regardless of animal use site (on campus or at UCSB Natural Reserve sites), funding source, species, or animal numbers. The IACUC Animal Care and Use Protocol must be submitted by a Principal Investigator as the responsible party for conducting the proposed animal activities listed in the protocol application. Only faculty members, professional researchers or instructors may serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) on animal protocols. A Post-doctoral Fellow or Graduate Student cannot be a PI.

The following steps are required for protocol submission and review by the IACUC:

1. Download and complete the protocol application form. The protocol application form can be completed using Microsoft Word or Google docs.
2. Submit the completed protocol form electronically (via email attachment) to the IACUC Office (IACUC@lifesci.ucsb.edu).
3. The IACUC Office will review the protocol for completeness (i.e., making sure that all questions are answered), and if the protocol is complete, the protocol submission date will be recorded in the IACUC file.
4. The IACUC Office will then send the protocol to the Attending Veterinarian for a veterinary pre-review.
5. The protocol is assigned to the next available IACUC meeting date, after successful completion of the veterinary pre-review.

The duration between protocol submission (i.e., step 3 above) and review of the protocol at an IACUC meeting can be a couple months. No animal work can begin, or continue past the original protocol expiration date in the case of triennial reviews, until the protocol application has been reviewed and approved by the IACUC. The following table lists the IACUC submission deadlines for new applications and meeting dates for the 2018-2019 academic year. Please note, triennial review notices are sent to Principal Investigators and contain the submission deadline. Also note that the IACUC, usually, does not hold meetings during the months of July and August and, while uncommon, meeting dates are subject to change.

If your research involves the use of vertebrate animals, but there is no direct interaction between the animals and the researchers (e.g., field observations, indirect sampling, etc.), then an IACUC protocol may not be necessary. Similarly, if the larval form of a vertebrate species will be used before the vertebrae have developed, then an IACUC protocol may not be necessary. If your research falls into one or more of the above categories, complete and submit a Do I Need A Protocol? form to the IACUC Office. If you are unsure of whether your research would qualify as the direct use of vertebrate animals, contact the IACUC Office for guidance (IACUC@lifesci.ucsb.edu)

For questions about submitting an animal protocol or if you are unsure if you need an animal use protocol, please contact IACUC@lifesci.ucsb.edu