28 January 2011

HARPO is changing its name

Change is coming! The Human and Animal Research Protections Office will soon be known as the Office for Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC). All human and animal research compliance information will be moved to this site. Please bookmark http://www.umbc.edu/research/ORPC/.

21 January 2011

Revised NIH Guidelines for Breeding of Transgenic Rodents

From the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA) : http://oba.od.nih.gov/oba/index.html

NIH Guidelines Revised to Exempt Most Experiments Involving the Breeding of Transgenic Rodents Housed Under BL1 Conditions - Under the revisions to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules effective January 19, the breeding of transgenic rodents that may be housed under BL1 containment conditions is exempt from the NIH Guidelines with the exception of:

Breeding experiments involving transgenic rodents that contain more than 50 percent of the genome of an exogenous eukaryotic virus from a single family, in order to prevent inadvertent reconstitution of an exogenous virus in the resultant transgenic rodent; and

Breeding experiments in which the transgenic rodent's transgene is under the control of a gammaretroviral long terminal repeat (LTR), in order to address the small risk of recombination with endogenous retroviruses which could potentially result in mobilization of the transgene via a replication-competent mouse retrovirus.

The above two types of experiments must still be registered with, and eventually approved by, an IBC under Section III-E of the NIH Guidelines.

A full description of these changes can be found in the January 19, 2011 Federal Register ( 76 FR 3150 )

20 January 2011

Affiliate with UMBC in CITI

If you completed the CITI training at another institution, but want to affiliate with UMBC, no problem. The advantage of affiliation is that some institutions (like UMBC) may require the same modules that only need to be completed once. The software gives credit for completion.

Here's how to affiliate:

1) Log back into CITI (using your username and password). The site that appears will be your "Learner's" page or Main Menu - the one that shows the courses you're enrolled in.

2) Look for the link at the top of the page that says "Affiliate with another institution".

3) Choose the drop down box next to “Participating Institutions” and select University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Click “Submit”

4) Complete the “Member Information” section (similar to what was completed during the initial CITI registration phase) and click “Submit”

5) Choose the training module that you plan to take (or have already taken) on the “Select Curriculum” page and click “Continue”

6) You'll then be back at your "Learner's Menu" page. Look for the heading “University of Maryland, Baltimore County “. If the modules completed at your current institution say “Passed (with a date)”, under University of Maryland, Baltimore County heading, then no further action is required. If not, you’ll see a link(s) for modules under My Courses with a link that says "Not Started - Enter". Click on that link and you'll see a list of additional training modules to take. Continue with reviewing the training materials and take the quizzes. Once completed, you'll have a new certificate showing the completed modules.

11 January 2011

Office of Research Integrity (ORI) to release a video simulation of research intergrity

A video simulation on research integrity, entitled "The Lab", will be released within the next month on the ORI web site and as a DVD. This simulation focuses on a hypothetical research misconduct case that causes lab to lose funding, create bad publicity for the university, and eventually causes the withdrawal of a multi-million dollar endowment.

Like the popular "Choose Your Own Adventures" stories, "The Lab" will allow viewers the opportunity to undo the damage by assuming the roles of a graduate student, post doc, principal investigator,
and a research integrity officer and make decisions to prevent misconduct from occurring unnoticed. The interactive video addresses the handling of misconduct, data management, authorship, mentoring, work-life balance, and other issues that today's researchers face. A fully-functional online version will be available on the ORI site in January, with a DVD version expected to ship PHS funded institutions before February 2011.

A trailer of the video can be viewed at http://ori.hhs.gov/TheLab

04 January 2011

What is "Research Integrity"?

The NIH Office of Extramural Research has created a website that explains research integrity, gives a definition of research misconduct and what is expected from researchers. This a great teaching tool.

Go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/research_integrity/

Final version of the updated Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals now available

It's here! The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) has announced the publication of the final version of the 8th Edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. This is the primary reference used by institutions who are engaged in the humane treatment of animals in research, testing, and teaching. The 2010 edition replaces the Guide, which was last updated in 1996, and includes recently published data, scientific principles, and expert opinion to recommend practices for responsible laboratory animal use.

Go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12910 to view and/or purchase a copy.

Updates to the OHRP website

The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) has updated its website on January 2, 2011. The new site has the content from the original site but is now "revised and streamlined." Go to http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp.