UCLA Application Details

All animal use protocol application forms are now submitted via the ROMEO portal.

Forms

Submit via the ROMEO portal.

• Form A: Application to use animals for research or teaching - ethics review 
• Form B: Renewal and amendment form (EVENT tab on approved protocol)
• Form C: Application to use invertibrates, tissues obtained from necropsy, or obtained from a slaughterhouse

Attachments/Appendicies are also available on the portal as well as listed below as they provide additional information to help complete details that are not included on the application form, please include these with your online submission as needed. NOTE: Please use lay language when completing the forms/attachments/appendices.

The Committee meets monthly. See submission deadlines to the right of the screen for each meeting. This deadline is for electronic submission via ROMEO. Please note that the PI is responsible for tracking their start and end dates of their projects, and should submit a renewal prior to their project end date allowing time for review before the expiry date.

Applications are accepted any time via Romeo. The monthly deadline dates are available to the right and constitute the deadlines for research protocol documentation requiring review at a committee meeting. Please note that no reviews are conducted in August. Submissions must be received by 4:30 p.m. on the deadline day. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

It normally takes about 3-4 weeks to receive a response from the UCLA. In many cases, your first response to a new research ethics application will be a review letter in which the UCLA requests further information or makes recommendations for changes. Re-submissions in response to the initial UCLA feedback also require ethical review, which takes additional time. It is recommended that you plan at least 8 weeks (or more) from submission to approval, and this estimate is highly variable depending on the nature of the project, the quality of the initial ethics submission and the timeliness of communication between the researcher and the UCLA.  Learn more about the animal ethics review process and how long it takes. 

This application form is required for most projects that propose to use vertebrates or cephalopods in research, teaching, or testing at Dalhousie University. Relevant attachments should be included if applicable. See below for attachments that can be downloaded, filled in, and then uploaded into ROMEO. I recommend filling them in and saving them as PDF files to upload to ROMEO with your form A.

Questions about protocols? More detail can be found here under the heading 'Protocol Applications'. The initial Form A submission must come from the lead researcher or Principal Investigator (PI) at Dalhousie University. Learn more about the animal ethics review process and how long it takes. 

For teaching protocols, we now require a pedagogical merit review for all teaching protocols. Please see the CCAC FAQ page for more details. For Instructors, please complete the form below and include it with your protocol submission on Romeo. 

• UCLA Pedagogical Merit Review

Renewals and amendments are now submitted via events on your approved form A. These events are used to renew a protocol for a further year and/or to make minor changes to a protocol. For renewals, we are accepting two renewals on all Form A's, making the cycle 3 years. For example, if you have protocol 21-xxx approved in January 2021, renewals (form B/event form) will be accepted to renew in January 2022, and January 2023, and the following year in 2024 if the project continues a new form A will be required. Please submit all forms via ROMEO. 

Questions about amendments? More detail can be found here under the heading 'Protocol Amendments'. 

Minor and Major amendment definitions:

Minor amendment, a modification to the protocol or Form B amendment that:

• involves a change in personnel or training status 
• involves a change in animal number of not more than 20% of the protocol
• can involve a strain change in mammal model but not a species change
• adds treatments or procedures of similar invasiveness to the level and category previously approved without increase in harms
• does not involve an increase in harms done to an animal during study
• flows naturally from the scientific peer review basis of previous studies

Major amendment, which triggers the requirement for a new Form A:

• increase of more than 20% of previously approved animal numbers
• mammal Species change
• increased category of invasiveness
• increased potential harms to animal, i.e., multiple surgeries/IP injections/compound toxicity
• represents a new research direction that does not naturally flow from previous approved studies, i.e., requires new peer review

Amendment requests will be reviewed by the UCLA, normally within 3-4 weeks of receipt, following the same submission deadlines to the right. If the UCLA requests revisions or clarifications, these must be completed and re-submitted for additional ethical review prior to UCLA approval. Proposed changes may not be implemented until you receive notification of UCLA approval by email.

This application form may be used for work involving invertebrates (other than cephalopods), tissue cultures, tissues obtained from necropsy or from a slaughterhouse, the use of eggs, protozoa or other single celled organisms. Please submit via ROMEO. 

In compliance with Tri-Council and CCAC requirements, Dalhousie’s Research Services is not permitted to release research funds until documentation of all necessary approvals is received (for example animal ethics, human ethics, biohazard and radiation permits). It is the investigator’s responsibility to ensure that protocols are up-to-date and that the documentation is provided to Research Services in a timely fashion.   Please allow sufficient time for animal ethics review and resolution of any subsequent questions or clarifications. Protocols must be fully approved before Financial Services opens the account.

All animal use protocols require peer review before ethics/welfare review by the UCLA. 

Most labs have peer review completed by the granting agency, however if the researcher has received start up funds and wishes to begin animal work, there is a mechanism through the Office of Research Services to complete peer review. Please contact the UCLA office if you have questions prior to protocol submission.

If a researcher is funded by contract with a corporate partner, there is a separate mechanism to satisfy the peer review requirement for corporate partners. Please contact the UCLA office for the following documents:

• Master Checklist 
• Scientific Peer Review of Animal Research Proposals from Corporate Partners

More detail can be found here under the heading 'Scientific Merit Review'. Please review the Scientific Merit Policy if you require further details. 

Please contact the UCLA office if you have any questions: UCLA@dal.ca.

The University Committee on Laboratory Animals reviews animal protocol applications to determine if proposed projects meet ethical guidelines established by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The main ethical principle used in evaluating animal projects is the principle of the 3R’s- Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction. The Committee may, at times, make suggestions or recommendations for changes in a protocol that will enhance animal care and welfare. Please feel free to the UCLA coordinator for assistance in completing the protocol application form. The Committee welcomes discussion with investigators to find solutions to problematic issues.

For more details please review our Committee Functions page. 

The principal investigator’s (PI) digital signature is required on all protocol applications. The PI is responsible for all information in the protocol and related correspondence and for ensuring that all work has been fully approved and is being done according to the approved protocol.

The initial protocol submission (FORM A) must be submitted by the lead researcher/PI at Dalhousie University.