We strive to accommodate all research that adheres to our “do no harm” policy. To ensure animal safety and well-being, all project proposals must be reviewed and approved before research can begin. In addition, due to the large number of ongoing projects, we must carefully consider conflicts in animal use among projects. We therefore require a Research Proposal from all potential researchers in order to assess research design, study subjects and sample size, frequency of use, and the scientific merit of the proposed research.
Any project that requires animal manipulation, defined as interacting with the animal in any way, must be approved by both the DLC Research Committee and the Duke Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). This approval process generally takes 4-6 weeks.
Projects that are observation-only and require no animal manipulation fall under an IACUC-approved DLC animal observation protocol and therefore require approval only from the DLC Research Committee. This approval process generally takes less than two weeks.
Please contact the DLC Director of Research (Dr. Erin Ehmke, erin.ehmke@duke.edu) to discuss project feasibility and to request the appropriate approval forms.
