In Vivo Training

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy require that all personnel involved in animal use and research be appropriately trained and qualified.  To ensure that this requirement is fulfilled at the University of Pennsylvania, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) has adopted the following training program.

 

All UPenn personnel must complete the IACUC required training as a prerequisite to the Stem Cell and Xenograft Core specific training. To meet this requirement, all Core users must complete the training steps below.

1. Complete the Penn Profiler Assessment 

  • A required online survey used to assign job-specific training for all University employees and some students, including all animal users. Penn Profiler includes a series of occupational health and animal use risk assessment questions. Based on the answers, Penn Profiler will assign required training. This course is automatically assigned to all University employees, or otherwise can be manually assigned by OAW or ULAR personnel. 

2. Complete the following required courses in Knowledge Link:

  • Regulations and the IACUC Curriculum: This web-based training, consisting of one module with three sections, provides a basic understanding of the roles of the IACUC and presents the United States governmental agencies and laws that regulate animal research. It discusses the basic parts of the protocol form as well as policies regarding specific animal use procedures that are commonly performed at Penn. 
  • Mouse Training Curricula - ULAR: Most curricula consist of a web-based training pre-requisite and a species-specific hands-on training session. Content is developed and provided by the ULAR Training Division. The courses provide a basic understanding of handling and common biomethodologies related to a particular species. There are 2 parts to this training: the online ULAR Mouse Training Module and the Mice Specific Hands-On Training.
  • Occupational Health and Safety for Laboratory Animal Users: This web-based training covers the general occupational health and safety risks when working with or near laboratory animals, including non-human primates (excluding macaque species). The course covers zoonoses, allergens, personal protective equipment, chemicals, ergonomics, sharps, occupational health risks, Tuberculosis testing, and contact information. 
  • Bloodborne Pathogens Safety at Penn Curriculum: This training was developed and is provided by Environmental Health and Radiation Safety (EHRS) to satisfy requirements of the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Completion of this course is required by all personnel listed on procedures involving human materials and by the PI of protocols that include use of human materials.

Please reference the IACUC Training Requirements and/or reach out to Tony Secreto if you have any questions or concerns. 

1. All SCXC users must be added to an IACUC protocol that is approved for ABSL2 work in the SCXC. Please reference the IACUC website for more information (scroll down to ~mid-page).

2. Complete the SCXC training (2 parts):

3. More details about new user information, core training slides and related information can be found here (Pennbox)

4. To subscribe to the Core’s list Serv: