What All PIs Need to Know About Animal Protocols

• Use ARROW to create and submit protocols. You must complete Animal User Orientation before you can use ARROW.
• The RARC IACUC office administers all animal care and use protocols, no matter which of the UW-Madison IACUCs has oversight.
• The UW Office of Biological Safety administers biosafety protocols, not RARC.
• The Division of Facilities Planning & Management handles radiation approvals and chemical hygiene plan reviews, not RARC.
• If you are new to UW-Madison, you may submit a protocol prior to arriving on campus if you have been issued a NetID by your hiring department.
• You may list multiple grants on a single protocol or a single grant on multiple protocols.
• Regulations require each protocol to include a search for alternatives to painful/distressful procedures. UW Libraries offers a resource guide to help you get started. 
• You must request a congruence check of your protocol and PHS-funded grants. This request can be made on the protocol workspace, or you can contact a congruence specialist at RARC.
• RARC veterinarians must prereview your new and three-year renewal protocols before you can submit your protocol for IACUC review. Use ARROW to submit your protocol for prereview. Allow two weeks for veterinary prereview.
• Specific information regarding animal facility operations, such as space requirements/availability, animal shipping and quarantine, and per diem rates are facility-specific and are not handled centrally by RARC. Contact your hiring department, school, or college, or work with the veterinary staff for facility-specific questions.
• Policy UW-4111, Training Requirements, requires that everyone named as staff on an animal protocol - regardless of experience - must complete basic training on animal use rules, regulations, and safety, and take the occupational health risk assessment. Much of the training is available online and accessible with a UW-issued NetID. You may submit your animal protocol for IACUC review before fulfilling all training requirements. Specific instructions for completing these requirements are issued via email notifications to each unique user.
• PIs are expected to follow all policies established under the authority of the Institutional Official and the Attending Veterinarian, regardless of school or college. Policies established under the authority of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees apply either universally or to the school or college committee that established them. See Policies.
• PI lab rooms listed on a protocol will be inspected every six months.
• Projects that involve non-contact, observational studies of wildlife species in the field may not require an IACUC-approved protocol. Contact the IACUC office or an RARC veterinarian for more information, or review the information on this page. Researchers may want to contact the editors of journals in which data from these studies may be published for any journal-specific expectations of IACUC approval.
• Investigators are required to track all vertebrate animal usage that occurs from October 1st of each year through September 30th of the following year. These numbers are then reported in October once the PI receives an email from the "Office of the Attending Veterinarian" containing a link to report their data. This reporting requirement includes all animals specifically bred and/or used in research, teaching, testing, or outreach. Client-owned animals should not be reported. For USDA-covered species, the "Pain Category" must also be listed.