UAB’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is rolling out a new, user-friendly animal use request (AUR) form this month.

“We have updated the AUR form to make it easier for researchers to complete and for committee members to review,” said IACUC Chair Judith A. Kapp, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology. “One of the main things we have done is to clarify changes to the interpretations of the numerous rules and regulations that govern animal use.

“We’ve also built the form to ‘auto-guide’ the researchers through it,” she explained. “If they answer certain questions certain ways, they then may be able to skip answering other questions or be directed to a different set of questions to answer. This should save everyone a great deal of time.”

UAB, which has been accredited since 1971 by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International, also is governed in this area of research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.

Kapp said either the new or the old form can be used during October, but, effective Nov. 1, only the new form will be accepted. The form can be downloaded from the IACUC Web site, www.uab.edu/iacuc , said Gene Hines, Ph.D., the IACUC director. For more information, contact Kapp at jkapp@uab.edu or Hines at ghines@uab.edu .