Category Archive

Below are the scheduled RATS 2.0 Zoom training sessions for the month of October. We highly encourage those who haven’t been in the system since the upgrade to attend a training session. Please contact RATSHelp@research.ucla.edu to register for an upcoming session: Date  Time  Wednesday, October 11, 2023 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 18, 2023 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, … Read More

Thanks to those of you who were able to attend the joint ARC-DLAM AAALAC Prep town hall yesterday. The slides and flowchart discussed during the town hall are attached. Please share these documents with your teams and contact the ARC admin team and/or DLAM if you have any questions as we approach the November 6-9 site visit.

In preparation of the November AAALAC site visit (scheduled to begin in just over 6 weeks!), we encourage you and your team to review the attached checklist. Working your way through the 14 points of the checklist will help to ensure your own lab’s readiness for the visit. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the ARC administrative staff and/or DLAM … Read More

The ARC recently updated the policy Use of Pharmaceutical-Grade Compounds. Updates are largely cosmetic and do not change the long-standing ARC requirement to use pharmaceutical-grade or veterinary grade substances whenever they are available, even in acute procedures. The policy includes examples of justifications that may be provided to the ARC in cases when pharmaceutical-grade substances cannot be used. As a … Read More

Mark your calendars! UCLA’s triennial accreditation site visit with AAALAC International will take place November 6-9, 2023. Though it may seem like this is months away, we actually have about 7 weeks until the visit begins. Last month, we sent an announcement with some preliminary actions specific to your ARC protocols that you can take to prepare for the site … Read More

I am pleased to announce that RATS, the online system used by the Animal Research Committee (ARC), will undergo a major update this coming weekend. As a result, RATS will be unavailable from 3:00 PM on Friday, September 1, 2023, until 11:59 PM on Monday, September 4, 2023. The RATS update is intended to refresh the appearance of the system … Read More

Colleagues: please see the below communication from EH&S. August 22, 2023 Dear Research Community, You are invited to attend the 2023 Workshop on Laboratory Safety, hosted this year at UCLA! Please register soon, as spots are limited and going fast. We hope you all are doing well and staying safe. Please send any questions you may have about this event … Read More

The ARC recently updated the policy Use of Investigator-Maintained Survival Surgical Facilities for Non-USDA-Covered Species. This policy describes the ARC requirement for use of centralized facilities for survival surgical procedures, and articulates the process by which exceptions to this requirement may be obtained. We encourage you to review and discuss this policy with your research team. All ARC policies are available … Read More

UCLA will host our triennial AAALAC accreditation site visit this coming Fall. Our last site visit took place in October 2020 and was a hybrid of on-site and virtual efforts. We are hoping for a similar structure to the 2023 site visit, which we have requested to take place in November, but may occur as early as the first week … Read More

What are lab animal allergies and occupational asthma? Laboratory Animal Allergies (LAA) and Occupational Asthma (OA) develop from exposure to animal allergens, and are among the most common, serious occupational diseases of workers exposed to animals in laboratories. Please review the Lab Animal Allergies & Occupational Asthma fact sheet (attached and available at https://ucla.box.com/ehs-lab-animal-allergies) to learn how to prevent LAA … Read More