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eRAM

New PI Proxy Role Available in eRAM June 10

In response to overwhelming feedback provided by the research community during Animal Care & Use Office (ACUO) Quality Assurance Visits, the ability to assign an individual to act on behalf of the Principal Investigator (PI) on a protocol in the eResearch Animal Management (eRAM) system will be available starting Monday, June 10, 2019. The new ...
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Federal Regulations & Standards IACUC

What Happens to Semi-Annual Inspection Findings

With Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) semi-annual facility inspections concluding and individuals following up on any eRAM Action Items, you may be wondering what happens to all of the information the Animal Care & Use Office (ACUO) collects. The semi-annual inspection process is used by the IACUC to ensure that U-M continues to ...

Controlled Substances Drugs

Controlled Substances Monitoring Program Introduces Revised Escalation Plan

In an effort to further strengthen, safeguard, and support research at the University of Michigan, the U-M Controlled Substances in Research Monitoring Program has introduced a revised escalation plan (available via PDF download) for all individuals who use controlled substances in research. Central to the plan is an institutional commitment to increased transparency through more ...

Facilities Safety

The Importance of Proper Sharps Disposal

Needlestick injuries are often a reality for nurses and lab personnel who regularly use needles in their day-to-day operations. Unfortunately, when needles and other sharps are not properly disposed of, these injuries can be incurred by individuals whose roles don’t involve handling of needles and who are otherwise unaware of their presence – including ULAM ...
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Guidelines

New Guidelines for Sanitizing Equipment Announced

To provide better management and control of environmental variables that may affect research integrity, the Animal Care & Use Program has introduced two new guidelines to formalize the cleaning process for all equipment that does NOT go to cagewash. The Guidelines for Manual Sanitization of Caging and Equipment outline new procedures for hand washing all ...
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Facilities Husbandry

Animal Care During an Emergency Reduction in Operations

Each and every member of our animal care team understands the important role that they play in the success of your research through their provision of quality, daily care to each and every animal housed on campus. During the University’s recent emergency reduction in operations, all animals continued to receive the same high standards of ...
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ACU Program, Medical School Office of Research Launch Research A-Z

The Animal Care & Use (ACU) Program has partnered with the Medical School Office of Research to launch Research A-Z. In addition to hosting the many varieties of documentation required for biomedical research at the U-M, the website is also home to all animal care and use program documents – including policies, guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures ...
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Facilities Husbandry ULAM

Acetates: A Means of Communication

How can you ensure your animals receive the special chow your research requires? How do you tell your room husbandry technician that you don’t want your breeding cages disturbed immediately following a new birth? How do the veterinary personnel know which cage needs immediate attention due to a health concern? The answer to these questions ...
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Facilities Husbandry ULAM

Important Update Regarding Transition to Paper-Based Bedding in Rodent Housing Facilities

We understand that there may be some ongoing confusion regarding the process of transitioning rodents from corn cob (Bed-O’Cobs®) bedding to a recycled paper-based bedding (Pure-O’Cel®) in rodent housing facilities across campus. The Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine (ULAM) has used this material as an alternative bedding for quite some time in select cases to address ...
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Forms Guidelines

Reminders and Guidelines for Maintaining Animal Health Records

Maintaining accurate, up-to-date records for all animals under your care is critical to animal health. Incomplete and/or incorrect records of any kind (e.g., surgical/anesthetic/sedation, post-operative, health records, etc.) could result in unnecessary treatment or diagnoses, both serious animal welfare concerns, and lead to the collection of invalid research data. Please take a moment to review ...
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Controlled Substances Drugs

Propofol to Be Handled As Controlled Substance Effective August 1

Effective August 1, 2018, Propofol will be handled and stored in the same manner as controlled substances. This change is applicable to all animal and analytical researchers across campus. To address ongoing security concerns, this change in how propofol is handled and stored is being made institution-wide (including Michigan Medicine). Detailed instructions for the handling and ...

Safety SOP

Safety Check: Animals Perfused with Paraformaldehyde and Formalin

Formalin and paraformaldehyde (PFA) are used as fixatives that act to preserve and stabilize cells and tissues prior to the examination process. The most common application of these agents is transcardial perfusion. Because formalin and PFA solutions emit formaldehyde gas, a known human carcinogen, safe handling of these agents and the appropriate disposal of all ...