ACUO Announces Process Improvements for Better Management of DoD Protocols

After receiving a substantial amount of input from many of you, the Animal Care & Use Office (ACUO) is pleased to announce that we have developed the following processes to better support your need for flexibility in administering and maintaining animal use protocols from the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

Process improvements include:

• Flexibility in Funding Sources: IACUC approved protocols may now be supported by a single or multiple different funding sources (i.e., a mix of DoD and non-DoD funding)
• A New Amendment Summary Page: A form has been developed in eRAM to capture protocol modifications being made as well as the grant(s) affected by the amendment (AME). This AME Summary will enable:
  • Research Compliance Associates (RCAs) to easily identify which amendments need to be sent to the DoD Animal Care & Use Review Office (ACURO) – please note that the PI will need to designate the associated funding source(s) related to each AME
  • PIs to quickly report all protocol changes to the ACURO – AME summary entries for each protocol will be available in one location that can be filtered by funding source
• ACUO will Submit Approvals and Documents to ACURO: When a new or renewal protocol or amendment needs to be submitted to the ACURO, RCAs will now do this on your behalf once the protocol or amendment has been approved (please note: you will be copied on all correspondence). Specifically:
  • The ACUO will assume responsibility for routing all approvals and required files to the ACURO, and
  • RCAs will need the completed Animal Use Appendix. They will then upload this document to eRAM and submit it to the ACURO.
  • Please list the ACUO general office email (acuoffice@umich.edu) as the IACUC contact on your DoD documents to ensure that any emails from the ACURO reach your RCA in a timely and efficient manner.

When submitting DoD protocols, please remember that:

• The ACURO requires alternative methods to animal use to be discussed in the protocol regardless of species
• The ACURO still requires PIs to track their animal usage but does NOT currently request that the usage be reported to the ACURO

Finally, we want to acknowledge that the rollout of these process improvements has taken some time to implement. We thank you for your patience as we work to continually find meaningful ways to reduce administrative burden.

Questions or Concerns?

As always, please feel free to reach out to your RCA for assistance with protocols, amendments, or other eRAM functions. Specific questions about the annual review process should be directed to acuoffice@umich.edu.