Getting Started

Contact Godley Snell’s Assistant Director for a detailed cost estimate for your proposed study. The GSRC staff is happy to meet with you during your project’s planning stage to ensure project feasibility. For currentl information about GSRC animal care and service rates, refer to the University's Controller's webpage.

All research and teaching projects involving the use of live vertebrate animals must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) prior to procurement of animals and project initiation. The process starts with a Principal Investigator submitting an Animal Use Protocol (AUP) to the Committee for review. For information on the submission and review process, visit the Office of Research Compliance webpage. When the AUP approval process is complete, the Office of Research Compliance will notify GSRC of the approval and will forward all documents associated with the AUP.

Researchers are responsible for obtaining a SCDHEC registration and DEA license for controlled substances prior to the use of any of these materials in the course of their research. Contact Occupational and Environmental Safety for assistance with the registration and licensure process. You will not be able to acquire animals or schedule procedures if you are not properly registered or licensed if your project involved these substances.

To request card access to an Office of Animal Resources facility, the individual must first be listed on the active Animal Use Protocol (AUP) under which they will be working. Personnel may be added either during the initial protocol submission or through an amendment after the protocol has been approved.

Once the protocol or amendment has received IACUC approval, the Principal Investigator (PI) should contact the Building Security Coordinator (BSC), email: hmarti2@clemson.edu directly to initiate the access request. The BSC will verify the individual's inclusion on the protocol by reviewing the approval status in InfoEd. If confirmed, card access will be granted through the Genetec system.

Please note that card access is not automatically granted upon protocol or amendment approval. A direct request to the BSC is required. This process ensures that only personnel who have completed the necessary IACUC training are granted access, thereby reducing the risk of non-compliance.

After the IACUC has reviewed and approved your AUP, animals can be procured for your project. No orders will be placed for animals without an approved AUP.  AUPs that are pending in the review process are not considered approved and animals will not be ordered.

To place an animal order, submit an Animal Order Request in iLab using the following procedure:

1. Log into iLab.
2. At the top right, click on the “Request Services” tab.
3. In this tab under the Service Request section, click the “request service” button with the green arrow next to “Animal Order Request.”
4. The Animal Order Request form should appear. Complete all form fields.  Fields marked with a red star are required. *Please be as specific as possible with all requests.
5. Complete the payment information section. Animal orders will not be placed unless an active chart string is attached to the request.
6. Click “submit request to core” to submit your request to GSRC.
7. Once GSRC receives and reviews your request, we will be in contact with you with any questions and/or order confirmations.

The GSRC staff will assist with any experimental procedures, but we encourage Principal Investigators and graduate students to perform procedures independently. Proficiency must be demonstrated prior to independent work. We will provide training for any experimental procedure on an approved AUP to develop the husbandry and technical skills of your research team. 

Procedures described in your approved AUP are scheduled by completing and submitting a Service Request Form through the iLab Organizer. We encourage researchers to schedule procedures before or at the time of animal procurement to ensure resource are available. We will make all efforts to accommodate requests, but reserve the right to deny requests made with little or no lead time.