Research

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

Every institution that uses animals for federally funded research must have its own Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The IACUC oversees the use of live, nonhuman vertebrate animals in all biomedical and ecological research, teaching, and testing performed by University employees or by users of the University’s animal facilities, or on University-owned animals housed at non-University operated sites. 

Before investigators or course directors can initiate any project involving the use of vertebrate animals, they must receive approval from the IACUC. 

All projects that the IACUC reviews must be submitted through IRBNet, a web-based software. 

Steps for Submitting through IRBNet

  1. This process takes time. Plan to take several weeks to gather your materials for submission, and then plan for a minimum of six weeks for review by the committee.
  2. Register at IRBNet. Find the New User Registration link and follow the steps. Be sure to affiliate with Michigan Technological University. Note that your password will be different than your MTU ISO password.  
  3. Once you have registered and are logged in to IRBNet, click Create New Project.
    1. The Local Principal Investigator must be a Michigan Tech faculty or staff member. 
  4. After you have completed the previous step, the software will automatically bring you to the Designer page. Select Michigan Tech University Animal Committee (IACUC) from the library dropdown menu. All investigator documents are available here for you to download. A new project will require the New Application form to be submitted (appears as "FORM: New Application").
  5. Once you have downloaded and filled out the New Application form, you must save it to your computer. 
  6. To upload the New Application form to IRBNet, click Attach New Document.
  7. Once all applicable documents are uploaded, including any permits for wildlife research or other supporting documents, click Submit this Package on the left side of the screen. 
    1. If you are a student filling out information for a Principal Investigator, the PI must log in to IRBNet and sign the package using the Sign this Package link on the left side of the page. 
  8. Submit the package to all applicable committees (usually just the IACUC, but occasionally the IBC as well). 
  9. You should receive an automatic email confirming your project has been successfully submitted. 
  10. You will need to wait at least five business days for a response on your submission.