CaRES animal research projects must be approved by UAB’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to ensure humane treatment of animals and the safety of all faculty, staff, and students who conduct animal research. Here are some general IACUC guidelines. Each CaRES preceptor of an animal project must hold an approved protocol from the IACUC and should add his or her CaRES student to the protocol as they would add any new member of the research team. The student must complete an IACUC training course through the “LMS” Learning Management System that all UAB animal researchers use to satisfy IACUC training requirements. Students must have a Blazer ID to access course materials. The basic course is 4 modules with corresponding quizzes. If your research project involves more than one species, training specific to each species may be needed. Students who will perform survival or non-survival surgery in rats or mice may need to complete rodent surgery training. Also, Occupational Health and Safety training may be required.
Please see your preceptor to clarify the IACUC requirements for your CaRES project. Here is a general walk-through of the steps you may need to take. It may sound complicated, but it’s easy!
- Access www.uab.edu/iacuc
- In the green stripe across the top of the page, click on Training, then choose the item in the drop-down menu, Training for UAB Students and Employees
- Read the first paragraph and click on training system that will bring you to the Learning Management System (LMS) page . . . where you should click on the LMS login box at the very top of the page to log in using your Blazer ID and password
- In the stripe across the top of the page click on Catalog . . . then in the search box, type IACUC and you will see a list of about 17 items . . . find the item “Using Animals for Teaching and Research at UAB” and click on the “info” box for that item . . . then you will find yourself at:
- https://www.healthstream.com/HSAPP/CoursePreEnrollment?courseId=0c711212-cf0e-e111-a1d1-001517135511&courseVersion=10 where you will see “Learning Activities” that are listed as 4 modules, each with a learning assessment (quiz) that you must complete. The estimated times for completion of each module are given.
- Click on the “enroll” box to begin! Complete the required modules and quizzes.
For questions about the LMS learning system, click on UAB Learning System, call the LMS Support Desk at 205-996-4444, or email LMS at learningsystem@uab.edu. For questions about the IACUC and animal research at UAB, please contact your preceptor, CaRES Program Director Dr. John Waterbor at h2obor@uab.edu, or IACUC Director David Cannon:
David Cannon, CPIA | Director IACUC
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
UAB | University of Alabama at Birmingham
CH19 403G | 933 19th St. South | Birmingham, AL 35294-2041
P: (205) 934-7847 | dgcannon@uab.edu
