BIACUC Mission
The IACUC Committee at Bloomington promotes the humane care and use of laboratory animals by providing information that will enhance animal well-being, the quality of research, and the advancement of scientific knowledge that is relevant to both humans and animals. All who care for, use, or produce animals for research, testing or teaching must assume responsibility for their well-being. Use of animals comes with great responsibility.
Therefore, animal research must be planned to use appropriate species, animals of high quality and appropriate animal numbers. Animal research should reduce or minimize discomfort, pain, and distress. We must ensure that humane end points of experiments are established; appropriate pain relief (sedation, analgesia, anesthesia and supportive measures) are employed; animals are cared for by qualified people; and experiments should be conducted by highly trained personnel under close supervision. We also look for all opportunities to implement the three Rs.
- Replacement of animals when possible
- Reduction of animals used
- Refinement of procedures to minimize discomfort.
By following these principles, we ensure that all of us - the BIACUC and our PI stakeholders - use animals responsibly and humanely.
BIACUC Values
We value open communication with our partners and stakeholders. We believe in collaboration and consultation.
We believe that a successful animal program hinges on communication among each other, with ORC, with our IA, with PIs, with our partners at the Indianapolis campus. We will work together to remove barriers to open communication. The Guide instructs us to create a balanced program built on the IACUC, AV, and IO working together. All parties take responsibility for efficient and competent collaboration with each other.
Furthermore, BIACUC values collaboration between members and our IA, our ORC partners, our AV, and our PI stakeholders. We view the PIs as part of our extended collaborative team that facilitates the work of the IACUC.
We believe in an interactive, preventative, and proactive animal program.
We want to proactively reduce compliance problems in our animal program. For instance, our new PAM program - led by our IACUC Administrator - is designed to ensure compliance through prevention and to anticipate problems before they arise. This PAM program supplements on a program built on continual education for all. Furthermore, our proactive program encourages open consultation with and partnering with campus vets to proactively develop protocols.
We must establish relationships built on trust and mutual goals.
We believe that the IACUC functions best when it is built upon strong relationships with PIs. We need to build and maintain trust between BIACUC, our IA, the AV, and researchers. Relationships that create trust and pursuit of mutual goals will deliver both compliance and research productivity.
We value custom-built, local solutions whenever possible.
IUB has a very diverse animal care program. BIACUC remains committed to seeking the best solutions and outcomes for our varied stakeholders in Bloomington. To effectively facilitate this diverse research, we seek to make policies and decisions based on consultation and feedback with our local researchers.
Similarly, we empathically understand that faculty members, post-docs, and graduate students feel burdened by compliance-related duties. The committee wants to help reduce compliance barriers. We believe that we must listen to and embrace criticism from PIs and other researchers to improve our program. If we listen carefully, we will develop more efficient, more effective methods of compliance.
We value speed and efficiency to best serve researchers.
We seek to facilitate the very best, cutting-edge research that uses animals humanely. To help achieve this goal, BIACUC seeks to serve researchers quickly and efficiently. To serve researchers better, BIACUC's shift to primarily DMR review of protocols has dramatically reduced our turn-around time. We want to continue taking steps like this one. Such changes should further enhance the speed and efficiency with which we make decisions.
We value a synergy of goals.
We believe that we can achieve these goals while simultaneously providing efficiency, competence, and exemplary animal welfare. With effort, care, and creativity, we can meet IUB's compliance needs while embracing our values above.