DLAR FAQs

Prior to being granted badge access to the animal facility, you must have completed the following:

• PI/Animal User Training;
• Occupational Health/Animal Handler Clearance;
• Have, or have been added to, an approved animal use protocol;
• Completed animal facility orientation training.

Once you have completed animal handler clearance and have been added to an approved animal use protocol, you may request animal facility orientation training and any desired hands-on training by completing the online DLAR training request form (see training FAQs). You will request badge access to a DLAR-managed animal facility by completing the online animal facility access form. Once animal facility orientation training has been completed, your badge access will be activated.

Once the online animal facility access form is submitted, it will automatically route to DLAR to determine appropriate access based on the animal use protocol. However, the process will not be finalized until your animal facility orientation training is done. When animal facility orientation training is completed, the form will be processed and you will receive an email confirming that facility access has been granted. You may contact DLAR with additional questions about this process.

Please email contact-DLAR@umd.edu to inquire about the status of your animal facility access request.

If your ID card was lost or stolen, you should deactivate your ID card. Once your ID card is deactivated, you must obtain a new ID card. ID cards can be obtained at the Office of the Registrar, First Floor, Mitchell Building, Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm (View Map). You will need a new card to gain access to the animal facility; animal care and other research staff may NOT badge you in to the facility.

No. You must destroy your old card and use the newly issued card to gain access. Your old card was deactivated and will not work at the facility access points. You will NOT be allowed to enter the facility by showing the old card to a staff member.

Currently, when you receive a new ID card, the existing facility access permissions should automatically be applied, but occasionally there are issues with the new cards. The following issues may be encountered:

• A delay from when the new card is made until it works at the facility. Please check your new card and if it doesn’t work, wait overnight and try it again (it may take a while for the system to sync access for each facility).
• After 24 hours, the new card still does not work at the facility. Please email DLAR to confirm the correct access permissions are applied to the card in the Lenel system. Include your UID, the name as it appears on that ID card, and a brief description of the access issues.
• The new card still does not work after 24 hours ~and~  DLAR has confirmed that the correct access permissions are applied. Please return to the registrar’s office and request that any issues with the card be corrected.

There are several reasons a card "stops" working:

• The card was reported as lost or stolen and has been deactivated. See FAQ above on lost/stolen cards.
• The magnetic strip is damaged, worn out or no longer functional. If this is the case, you will need to obtain a new access card from the Registrar’s office.
• The card access was removed due to an automatic deactivation date. The cards are programmed with a deactivation date. If the magnetic strip looks good and the card is registering but no longer unlocks the door then this may be the cause.

Please email DLAR to confirm that the card is still showing as “active” in the Lenel system. Include your UID, the name as it appears on that ID card, and ask to verify that the card has an active date in the Lenel system.

DLAR does not permanently issue keys to animal rooms or procedure areas. As applicable, animal facility orientation training will include training on the Key Watcher system used to check out keys to your animal room. Once trained, you will be able to retrieve your animal room key(s) from the Key Watcher system.

If you lock your badge or animal room key inside the room during normal business hours, please contact the animal care team for your facility to gain access to that room. After hours, please contact the UMD Police Dept at 301-405-3555 (non-emergency number).

Dedicated laboratory animal science professionals, including animal care technicians and lab animal veterinarians, comprise the DLAR animal care team.

If you find a sick animal in your colony, please contact the on-call veterinarian (301-458-5047), initiate an Animal Health Report (AHR) form (available in the animal room or adjacent corridor), and notify the DLAR animal care staff by emailing dlar@umd.edu (you may attach a scanned copy of the AHR to the email).

If an animal care technician finds a sick or injured animal during their daily health rounds, they will complete an AHR and email it to the Principal Investigator (PI)/lab group and copy DLAR. If the animal’s condition warrants immediate attention, the staff will contact the on-call vet and attempt to contact the PI/lab POC by phone. They will complete the AHR once the animal’s condition has been addressed. The University Attending Veterinarian (or designee) may make the final determination regarding treatment/humane endpoint for the animal.

There is a veterinarian and an animal facility specialist on-call 24/7, including holidays and during inclement weather. Contact the on-call veterinarian at 301-458-5047. Visit the Emergencies page for more information on animal care, animal facility and campus emergencies.

The vet-on-call may be reached by calling 301-458-5047. To speak to the University Attending Veterinarian, call 301-405-4920 or 301-458-5082.

Yes. Consumable supplies may be ordered from DLAR. Medications (excluding controlled substances) that are listed on an approved animal use protocol or prescribed by a DLAR or authorized veterinarian may be ordered from DLAR. Please call (301-405-4921) or email DLAR to inquire about other supply or medication orders. Supply and medication orders are placed via the online Supply Request Form. A 5% handling fee is applied to all supply orders processed by DLAR.

Supply and medication orders are placed via the online Supply Request Form. Generally, if supplies/medications are on hand at DLAR, orders will be ready for pick-up within 2 business days of the order being placed. Orders may be picked up between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays without an appointment. Orders placed less than 48 hours in advance and orders for supplies/medications that are not in-stock at DLAR may not be available for pick up the following Tuesday or Thursday. A 5% handling fee is applied to all supply orders processed by DLAR.

Generally, if supplies/medications are on hand at DLAR, orders will be ready for pick-up within 2 business days of the order being placed. Orders may be picked up between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays without an appointment. Orders placed less than 48 hours in advance and orders for supplies/medications that are not in-stock at DLAR may not be available for pick up the following Tuesday or Thursday.

No. Each Principal Investigator (PI) who needs to order controlled drugs for use on their animal protocol must register with and obtain a license from the state and federal controlled substances authorities [e.g., Maryland Dept of Health Office of Controlled Substances Administration (OCSA) and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Diversion Control Division]. For more information, please visit the IACUC website: https://research.umd.edu/research-resources/compliance/institutional-animal-care-and-use-committee-iacuc/dea-license

“Per diem” (literally meaning “per day” or “for each day”) is the daily charge that Principal Investigators (PIs) pay for standard care and housing of their research or teaching animals living on campus. The per diem rate varies by species and housing type and is calculated by taking into account animal care expenditures (e.g., cage washing, feed, bedding, enrichment, medications, PPE, labor and other miscellaneous expenses) and revenue. Per diem rates are based on the cost analysis and recovery procedures outlined in NIH’s rate setting manual. Rates are calculated by DLAR and approved by University Cost Accounting. They are adjusted on a periodic basis. Current DLAR per diem rates are listed on the DLAR web site.

The Department of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR) operates as a research support service center under the Division of Research. To recover a portion of the money spent on animal care, DLAR charges per diem rates for the various species housed in DLAR-managed facilities. The University currently subsidizes the per diem rates.

Per diems help pay for the costs associated with standard animal husbandry and care, including feed, bedding, labor, PPE and other critical animal care supplies and equipment. They also pay for emergency animal care (unrelated to the protocol), sentinel animal testing, and some facility repairs and maintenance costs. See “Included in Per Diem costs” on the DLAR Per Diem webpage for additional costs covered by animal per diems.

Per diems do NOT pay for research-related support, sentinel testing for animals housed outside of DLAR-managed facilities, non-standard animal care, animal shipping or crate fees, etc. See “Not included in Per Diem costs” on the DLAR Per Diem webpage for additional items NOT covered by animal per diems.

No. Non-standard animal husbandry is typically charged at a calculated labor rate or per cost basis for the special housing and care required for those animals.

Everyone working with animals must be qualified, through experience and/or training, to perform their role(s) in the animal care and use program. A variety of didactic and hands-on training is available from the animal care and research teams. The IACUC Standard on Animal Care and Use Training Requirements describes required and recommended training based on your role. Additional information may be found on the DLAR Animal Care and Use Training page.

PI/Animal User Training is a didactic training course that helps meet the animal care and use training requirements described in the federal regulations, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching. Topics in this survey class include laws, regulations and guidelines (including responsibilities of those involved in animal care and use), ethical and scientific issues, reporting animal welfare concerns, humane methods of care and use, pain/distress and the use of anesthetics/analgesics, alternatives to animal use, aseptic surgery, euthanasia, occupational health and safety, security, animal rights activism, etc.

PI/Animal User Training is required every three years. The PI/Animal User Refresher Training class provides a brief review of the main topics covered in the initial training class and covers current issues and updates occurring over the past three years.

Initial and Refresher PI/Animal User Training classes are offered through the IACUC Office at least once each month. The class schedule may be found on the Animal Care and Use Training Calendar. It may be possible to schedule additional classes upon request. Please email dlartrainer@umd.edu or phone 301-405-4792 or 301-405-7295 to inquire about scheduling additional classes.

The registration links for Initial and Refresher PI/Animal User Training classes are located on the DLAR Animal Care and Use Training webpage.

Alternatively, the class schedule is shown on the Animal Care and Use Training Calendar. To register for class, please visit the calendar, click on your desired training date/time and follow the registration form link to register for PI/Animal User Training. Please ensure you are selecting a link for the correct class (Initial vs. Refresher). You will receive an email confirming your registration; this email contains the Zoom link information required for the class.

You must have UMD credentials (e.g., an XX@umd.edu or YY@terpmail.umd.edu email address) to access the PI/Animal User Training registration form. If you are new to the University and do not yet have UMD credentials, your PI or another administrator in your department may register you for the class.

Animal facility orientation training provides information specific to your animal housing facility, including footpath, animal room access, proper PPE wear, where to find necessary resources (like caging and equipment), how to complete animal-related paperwork, other facility policies and procedures, etc.

Prior to scheduling animal facility orientation training, you must have completed PI/Animal User Training, received your Occupational Health Animal Handler Clearance, and been added to an animal use protocol.
Once you have completed the prerequisites, you may schedule animal facility orientation training as follows:
For DLAR-managed facilities, please register for animal facility orientation training by completing the DLAR Training Request Form.
For ANSC facilities, please email ansc_acs@umd.edu to schedule training.
For Veterinary Medicine facilities, please email vet-med-trainers@umd.edu to schedule training.

A variety of hands-on animal procedure training is available for many species. Handling, restraint, euthanasia, aseptic technique/surgical prep, and a number of technical procedures such as injections, sample collection, and compound administration are some of the procedures for which research and animal care staff may request hands-on training.

Prior to scheduling hands-on animal procedure training, you must have completed PI/Animal User Training, received your Occupational Health Animal Handler Clearance, and been added to an animal use protocol.
Once you have completed the prerequisites, you may schedule hands-on animal procedure training as follows:
For DLAR-managed facilities, please register for hands-on animal procedure training by completing the DLAR Training Request Form.
For ANSC facilities, please email ansc_acs@umd.edu to schedule training.
For Veterinary Medicine facilities, please email vet-med-trainers@umd.edu to schedule training.

The AALAS Learning Library is an online educational resource for laboratory animal science professionals and anyone working in an animal care and use setting. The ALL provides training that is essential for technicians, veterinarians, managers, IACUC members, investigators and other support staff working with animals in a research or education setting.

Many courses are available in the Learning Library. Emphasizing the appropriate handling, care, and use of animals, the courses are designed to help you study for AALAS certification, meet training mandates of regulatory agencies, and improve your knowledge in technical areas. For a complete list of courses, download the Course Catalog (PDF). Visit the AALAS Learning Library at www.aalaslearninglibrary.org.

The DLAR sponsors an institutional membership to the AALAS Learning Library. To request an ALL account in your name, please send an email to dlartrainer@umd.edu. You will not be charged for your account.