Animal research - step by step

When applying for access FOTS we need:

1. First name
2. Surname
3. Date of birth (dd.mm.yyyy):
4. Phone (work)
5. Åhone (mobile)
6. E-mail address
7. Employment
8. What role should primarily be in the project (project manager, project participant)
9. Unit you primarily want to access (Vivarium or BBB)
10. Highest education
11. When and where you took courses in laboratory animal science (Course in animal experimentation, modules, Theoretical competence may e.g. be described as relevant course modules) - enclose course certificate
12. Previous experience with animal experiments
13. Animal species and procedures that you have practical experience (cf. § 24, 4th part and appendix E: described. E.g. techniques for injections, handling, anesthesia, surgery.)
14. Further education and updating: Continual further education and updating
15. Have you had access to FOTS earlier? Yes/No

Submit to aurora.bronstad@uib.no

• Applicant and participants competence (of all personnel involved)
• Public project summary
• Information on severity (expected pain and discomfort)
• Demonstrate compliance to 3R
• Harm-benefit assessment
• Animals to be used (number, sex, species)

In addition applicant has to provide information on

• Funding body
• Planned start and end of experiments
• Public access of information
• Background and purpose
• Rationale for using the chosen animal model.
• If relevant: deviant phenotype that may impact animal welfare
• Sedation, analgesia and anesthesia
• Calculating number of animals (experimental groups and group sizes)

Methods description

• Preparation of animals
• Procedures
• Monitoring and sampling
• Supervision of animals
• Method for euthanasia
• Criteria for humane endpoints and actions to be taken

You must first have access to the system. If you do not have a password and username already, you must apply for it. Send an e-mail to post@viv.uib.no with the following information:

• Your full name
• Phone numbers
• Position
• Animal unit you wish to do your research in (Vivarium or the BB-building)
• Your educational level
• Do you have a course in lab animal science, if yes, when and where was this. Also enclose course certificate(s).
• Short desription of previous projects at the Lab Animal Facility at the University of Bergen (incl. when). If not applicable, write that you have not done animal experiments at UiB before.
• Short desription of previous projects at other lab animal facilities elsewhere (incl. where/when). If not applicable, write that you have not done animal experiments at any other lab animal facility.

You will receive allocation of user name and password if everything is OK with your access, or you might be asked to submit more information. 

Lab Animal Science course

Persons who plan projects in animals must have completed training before the can apply. Read more here

3Rs

An account for 3R is a central part of the application. Read more about this here.

Risk assessment

You are also required to do risk assessment for your research group, as working with lab animals involve many health hazards. Find more information here. Enclose your finished risk assessment form to the FOTS application.

Scoresheets

If your project involves studies of infectious diseases, tumor studies, studies of all other chronic diseases that might impair animal welfare and clinical signs are expected, or breeding of gene modified animals, you must fill in a scoresheet that is to be enclosed to the FOTS application. Read more here.

Common mistakes in applications

Some common mistakes in applications are described here.

Assessment of projects

The EU Commision has made a guide on the criteria for evaluation of lab animal projects which you can find here.

Are the necessary resources available?

You should also have a look at Prosjektplanlegging Dyreforsøk (only in Norwegian so far).

Choice of animal model and design

Here you can find much useful information on literature studies, choice of animal models and design of experiments.