Animal Care & Use Program

• Date of most recent AAALAC accreditation: 11-19-2019
• Date of first AAALAC accreditation: 02-15-1980
• Copy of AAALAC accreditation letter (pdf)

The Animal Care and Use Committee at University of Virginia is responsible for oversight of the animal care and use programs, facilities and procedures and to ensure the appropriate care, use and humane treatment of animals being used for research, testing, and education.

The IACUC is also responsible for reviewing all animal use protocols, ensuring compliance with federal regulations, inspecting animal facilities and laboratories, overseeing training and educational programs, and ensuring that investigators are covered by an occupational health program. The IACUC also serves as a resource for faculty, investigators, technicians, students, and staff, further ensuring that all research, teaching, and testing are conducted in accordance with the highest scientific, humane, and ethical principles. At the University of Virginia, the members of IACUC are appointed by the Institutional Official, the Vice President for Research.

Before any investigator purchases, obtains, or works with vertebrate animals, an animal research protocol must be submitted for review and approval by the UVA IACUC (ACUC).

​​

The University is a USDA registered research facility.

• USDA Registration # 52-R-0011
  Valid through 08-22-2023

• Copy of USDA Registration certificate- valid through August 22, 2023 (pdf)

The University of Virginia has a PHS Assurance on file with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW).

• PHS Assurance # A3245-01
  Valid through 06-30-2023 

The Office of Animal Welfare at University of Virginia is responsible for ensuring that animal research is conducted in the most humane manner possible and in full compliance with all relevant regulations and policies.

UVA researchers keep to the highest standards of animal care & oversight. Research using animal models in the United States is highly regulated and is subject to extensive oversight and regulation by the federal government. All research animals at UVA are provided with an environment that meets their specific, species-associated needs.

UVA's Center for Comparative Medicine supports biomedical research and teaching that utilizes laboratory animals.

The Center does this in a manner which promotes the policies set by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) whose charge is to oversee compliance by personnel at the University of Virginia with federal regulations and guidelines. Federal guidelines have been established which promote the humane care and use of laboratory animals in research and teaching.