Quality Assurance Program

Equipment and materials in laboratory

Created under the direction of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), the Quality Assurance Team (QA) is a resource for the research community.

QA strives to ensure that every aspect of the Animal Care & Use (ACU) Program, including research, can perform effectively and efficiently by identifying issues such as administrative and regulatory burden, duplicative processes, and misinformation.

Once identified, QA will investigate the cause of common issues and propose solutions to ACU Program leadership. Typically, Quality Assurance Specialists identify issues by visiting with research community members.

A standard QA visit will provide research community members with the following:

  • An open discussion of their individual concerns regarding the ACU Program;
  • Discussions concerning the regulations, policies, and guidelines applicable to their research;
  • Assistance in preparing for regulatory inspections;
  • Identification and resolution of protocol deviations through education and/or protocol amendments;
  • Amendment submission on behalf of the PI to increase clarity, flexibility, and consistency within the protocol; and/or
  • Assistance in finding resolutions to difficulties specific to their laboratory.

 

The Quality Assurance Program is an ongoing resource to researchers at U-M, and Quality Assurance Specialists are available to assist with any questions or concerns related to the Animal Care & Use Program. 

Questions?

Questions or visit requests can be submitted via email to the QA team at ACUO-RCAs@umich.edu. Questions and requests may also be submitted to a specific Quality Assurance Specialist.