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Animal Care and Use

Training Requirements for Animal Users

Federal regulations mandate that individuals involved in the care and use of animals in research must be qualified to perform their duties. Please refer to the ACUC Training and Education Policy for the specific requirements at UC Berkeley.

Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training

  • Prior to starting any procedures, any individual who uses animals in instruction or research is required to be added to the PI’s personnel sheet of his/her Animal Use Protocol (AUP) and to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) web-based training. These individuals include, but are not limited to:
    • Principal Investigators (PIs), including those that are in a only supervisory role for the laboratory
    • Laboratory personnel, including undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students
    • Technicians and research assistants/associates
    • Graduate students participating in rotations
    • Students enrolled in courses where independent research with live vertebrate animals is conducted
    • Visiting scientists
    • Volunteers in the lab or with a project
  • The online CITI course takes approximately 1 hour to finish must be renewed in 5 years by taking a refresher course.
  • It is the responsibility of the PI to ensure that all personnel listed on the PI’s animal use protocol receive appropriate training in animal care and use.

Getting Started with CITI

Optional Training

  • Species-specific training modules in CITI (see CITI section for instructions) may be suggested or required by the PI.

Refresher Course

  • Investigators who have taken CITI or Tier One training are eligible to take the CITI refresher course when their prior training expires.

IMPORTANT! Individuals cannot be approved on a PI’s AUP until they have completed their CITI training.

Working Safely with Nonhuman Primates

  • Working Safely with Nonhuman Primates is a mandatory presentation for all individuals working with or around nonhuman primates (NHPs). This training is provided by OLAC on a monthly basis and covers the basic principles of working safely with NHPs with a specific focus on the Herpes B virus.
  • This annual training must be received prior to entering a room with NHPs. Visitors (including inspectors), who are accompanied by OLAC personnel, may have an abbreviated training to include basic safety practices.
  • Please contact OLAC at 642-9232 for information regarding this training.

Basic Safety, Hazardous Materials & Biosafety for NAF users

  • In addition being on your PI’s AUP personnel sheet and taking the online CITI training course, you must take the Basic Safety, Hazardous Materials & Biosafety for NAF users training if you need independent card key access to use the Northwest Animal Facility (NAF).
  • Initial training for NAF access is provided in-person by a biosafety officer and annual refresher trainings are available online.
  • Pre-registration for sessions is not necessary.
  • All classes are offered free of charge and held in the 203 NAF Conference Room.
  • If you have questions regarding NAF safety training, please contact Sara Souza from EH&S at 643-5809 or sarasouza@berkeley.edu.
  • Supplemental card key forms to get into the building for the training are available at the OLAC Forms web page. Please bring this form to the training.

Procedure-specific training by OLAC veterinarians

  • Please contact OLAC at 642-9232 for:
      • Training on certain procedures.
      • Observation of a procedure (NOTE: An individual can perform procedures on an animal while under supervision of a trained individual, such as the PI. However, the ability to perform procedures independent of supervision requires observation and certification of competency by OLAC.).

Ethics in Animal Research training presentation for Undergraduate Students taking a Course using Vertebrate Animals

  • For courses using live or freshly euthanized vertebrate animals as part of the curriculum, all instructors (i.e., Principal Investigators (PI) with Teaching protocols) must provide their students with the Ethics in Animal Research training presentation.
  • This short presentation covers the basic principles of animal welfare regulations, ethics and protocol compliance as they relate to animal care and use at UC Berkeley.
  • Please contact the Office for Animal Care and Use (OACU) at acuc@berkeley.edu to receive a copy of the PowerPoint presentation.