Description of animal research in scientific publications

OLAW provides information guidance for the description of animal research in scientific publications - http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13241

Meetings dates for IRB and IACUC

The IRB and IACUC have set their schedule for meetings and for acceptance of protocols for the next academic year. Please review the below:

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

October 03, 2011; Full Board Review applications due by September 06, 2011
December 05, 2011; Full Board Review applications due by November 07, 2011
February 06, 2012; Full Board Review applications due by January 07, 2012
April 02, 2012; Full Board Review applications due by March 07, 2012
June 04, 2012; Full Board Review applications due by May 07, 2012

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

Protocols must be submitted to
The IACUC will meet in: ORPC no later than:

October, 2011 August 15, 2011
January, 2012 November 15, 2011
April, 2012 February 15, 2012
July, 2012 May 15, 2012

President’s Bioethics Commission releases results of investigation of 1940s US Public Health (USPH) STD Studies in Guatemala

http://www.bioethics.gov/

UMBC's FWA has been renewed

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has a Federalwide Assurance (FWA00000069, approved through 09/13/2016) from the Office for Human Research Protections.

See this as well as other IRB related policies and procedures at http://www.umbc.edu/research/ORPC/IRBpolicyregs.html

Conflict of Interest Rules Finalized for NIH

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued an updated final rule on conflict of interest to use in identifying, managing, and avoiding investigators’ financial conflicts of interest. The regulations will be implemented after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register.

Major changes to the regulations include:

A requirement for investigators to disclose to their institutions all of their significant financial interests related to their institutional responsibilities.

Lowering the monetary threshold at which significant financial interests require disclosure, generally from $10,000 to $5,000.

Requiring institutions to report to the PHS awarding component additional information on identified financial conflicts of interest and how they are being managed.

Requiring institutions to make certain information accessible to the public concerning identified SFIs held by senior/key personnel.

Requiring investigators to complete training related to the regulations and their institution’s financial conflict of interest policy.

See this site, http://www.nih.gov/news/health/aug2011/od-23.htm, for more information and a full description of the major changes to the regulations.

Comment period on proposal to improve rules changes

The comment period for the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on how current regulations for protecting human subjects has changed and will end on October 26, 2011. See the September 1, 2011 Federal Register (http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-22341_PI.pdf)