All teaching, research, and outreach activities involving the use of live, non-embryonic, vertebrate animals by members of the Western Oregon University community are under the purview of the WOU IACUC and must be approved in advance by the committee.
The IACUC shall review, deliberate, approve, amend, and withhold approval of animal use protocols or protocol components, involving Western Oregon University personnel or facilities.
Below are resources to help create and maintain projects that will ethically care and use animals in research.
Approved Policies of the WOU IACUC
WOU IACUC Policies and Procedures Manual (approved 03.19.2024)
- The Approved Policies of the Western Oregon University IACUC (Last Updated March 2024) addresses in detail the conduct and oversight of animal subjects research at WOU. All animal subjects researchers conducting investigations at WOU are encouraged to read this manual to ensure comprehensive understanding of all WOU IACUC policies and procedures.
- The WOU IACUC Membership Policy is included in the Approved Policies document. These sections (Section 4 – Composition of the IACUC, Section 5 – IACUC Member Appointment) of the policy describe the WOU IACUC procedures regarding the identification, selection, and terms of IACUC members. The IACUC may be composed of representatives from WOU faculty and staff, as well as the surrounding community. The committee shall have no fewer than five members and no more than fifteen, including the committee chair. Members are selected via a nomination and voting process, and the term of service is three (3) academic years, with the exception of the Attending Veterinarian, who will hold an indefinitely-tenured role. See the policy document for more information.
IACUC CITI Training Guide for PIs
This is a step-by-step guide on how to access and add CITI training courses for IACUC compliance.
Instructions For Accessing IACUC CITI Training_PIs
Please note: everyone should select the “Working with the IACUC” course, but the other courses you select will be dependent on the type of research and specific animal taxon you will be working with.
IACUC Animal Welfare Reporting Form
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Western Oregon University has the responsibility to provide an opportunity for members of the public to report potential concerns regarding the welfare of animals used in teaching, research, or other official capacities by Western Oregon University personnel. All reports will be treat as confidential and there will be no retaliation for reporting concerns. All reports of concern will be investigated thoroughly and promptly by members of the WOU IACUC. The more detail you can provide in your report the better we are able to identify the concern. If you have any questions please email iacuc@wou.edu.
http://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pNijyi3JTJRn-IUGo1-34dML-TlLIHzTjAI091XdA_E/edit
General Animal Care Resources
Taxa-Specific Animal Care Resources
Classification of Animal Use by Pain and Distress Categories
Federal animal welfare regulations (CFR Ch.1, 2.36(b) (5-7) require that USDA-registered research facilities report an annual census of regulated animals used in research and teaching, the species used, and the number of animals placed in each of the four “Categories of Pain and Distress” (B,C, D and E). As a means of meeting this requirement and providing consistency of IACUC review, the Western Oregon University IACUC requires that pain and distress category information is provided when submitting an application. This page intends to provide general recommendations and guidance on how to assign animals to the different categories of potential pain and/or distress.
WOU IACUC – Classification of Animal Use by Pain and Distress Categories
Housing Facilities Inspection
The WOU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is required under the Animal Welfare Act and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals to conduct inspections of all vertebrate animal housing facilities on campus every six months. The WOU IACUC generally conducts its inspections towards the end of Fall and Spring terms in order to meet this federal compliance requirement.
The WOU IACUC reserves the right to perform inspections of approved animal housing facilities at other times as deemed necessary in addition to the 6-month mandatory inspection.
Principal Investigators (PIs) will be notified of any inspections of housing facilities.
During these inspections the committee will be utilizing the attached form (Semiannual Program Review and Facility Inspection Checklist(pp 14-15)) mandated by the Public Health Service Policy.
Submit to the WOU IACUC! All applications must go through Submittable.
Please note that you will be required to register and create a Submittable profile prior to completing your first submission.
When providing contact information during registration, you will need to use the “@mail.wou.edu” version of your email address in order to receive notifications from the system.
Need animal subjects research training?
Click below to begin CITI training!
WOU IACUC Contact Information:
503-838-9395