Catch the latest news, tips and advice that supports you and Florida Atlantic University in building a culture of research compliance.
January / February 2016

Welcome Back: Mind Your Dates and Training
Welcome back Owls! With the New Year before us it's important to take note of the expiration dates on your research projects.

Human subjects research studies require annual renewals. You must use the stamped, approved documents listed on IRBNet under Board 
Documents between the effective dates listed on the stamp.  Exempt studies do not need to be renewed annually but must be amended if there are changes that may increase the risk to participants. In exempt studies, changing the population size or adding research assistants does not typically increase risk and does not require submitting an amendment form.  Please e-mail us if you're unsure if you need to submit an amendment to an exempt study as the requirements differ when such changes occur to a study approved by expedited review.

This is also the time to ensure your CITI training records are current and to complete refresher courses before they expire.  All FAU investigators receiving sponsored funding are now required to complete the Conflict of Interest training through the CITI portal prior to an account being post-awarded (set-up). Division of Research policy states that account set up will not proceed without completion of the required training component.
Animal Care and Use Program Updates
The Institutional Animal Care and Use program hosted a Jan. 15 all-hands meeting. The Chair of the IACUC, Dr. Robert Stackman, Dr. Kristen Ware, Assistant Director of Research Integrity, and Dr. Sylvia Gografe, Attending Veterinarian and Director of Veterinary Services all provided updates to faculty involved in animal research at FAU.

Update from the Chair: Dr. Stackman summarized the program's continued path forward to AAALAC accreditation and its importance to FAU's growth in research. Dr. Stackman explained the necessity of FAU to achieve university-wide accreditation versus college or program specific accreditation. FAU's goal is to achieve university-wide accreditation.
Upate from the IACUC: Several policies have been recently revised including the Disaster Plan, Tumor burden in rodents (10.4.23) and Controlled Substances (10.4.18).
The Disaster Plan (10.4.7) is not posted on the website. To receive a copy, contact Research Integrity.  The revised policies have been posted here
  • PIs using controlled substances in their research at FAU must complete the Certification of Research Personnel Using Controlled Substances for members of their lab who will have access to and will be authorized to administer controlled substances in the course of research. The form can be found on under Veterinary Services forms on the web site here
  •  PIs are required to submit ... read more
Update from the Attending Veterinarian:  Inclusion of environmental enrichment is required. A justification can be submitted for consideration when a PI believes the use of environmental enrichment would interfere with their study objectives.
  • A change in health status of the vivaria on the Jupiter campus has been implemented with input from all relevant stakeholders. This will not affect the health status of the vivaria at the Boca campus.
  • All procurement of animals (other than those wild-caught) should be processed through Veterinary Services. 
  • If animals are (or appear to be) sick, the AV must be consulted.
  • Security: Authorized personnel ONLY are approved to access the vivaria.
Learn How to Jump Start Your IRB Submission
Research Integrity Invites You to a Free Workshop - "Tools to Start Your IRB Submission"
11 a.m. - Noon 
Wednesday, Feb. 24
BS-12, Conference Room 315

This workshop will be geared towards helping you find the information to start your project, what to do when you find it and how to submit your project to the IRB. The goal of this workshop is to help you navigate through IRBNet and the steps to submitting an IRB application. This will be a basic 'how to' workshop and first in what the Research Integrity group hopes will be a series of helpful information sessions to assist you with the IRB process.  Please RSVP here .

Steps to Submitting an Application to the IRB
Research Integrity has developed a checklist to assist you with the completion of your IRB submission. It will help you ascertain what resources are available online, which training to complete, how to submit through IRBNet, how to complete the IRB application, sharing your project and submitting to IRB. 

T o print the checklist and keep as a reference, click  here .  
FAU Establishing a New Biomedical and Health Research Informatics Core 
FAU has taken another step forward in funding and creating the new University-managed and sponsored, HIPAA-compliant, biomedical and health cyber-infrastructure: Biomedical and Health Research Informatics Core or BHRIC.  It will support biomedical, social science or health-related researchers throughout FAU - particularly biomedical research, translational research, and clinical research (including those using electronic personal health information). This core service will ... read more
Check Out The Beacon Online
The archived editions of The Beacon can be found online here. Please share with colleagues or use as references to our tips and hints!