Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Animal Ethics has a number of pre-approved UQ standard operating procedures (SOPs) for commonly used protocols/procedures. The appropriate Animal Ethics Committees (AECs) consider and approve the SOP before they are available as a resource.
Use of these SOPs can complement applications by identifying procedures with which the AECs are already familiar and have endorsed, it reduces the volume of information researchers/teachers are required to include in applications.
Current Standard Operating Procedures:
- Laboratory animals (e.g. mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits)
- Other laboratory animals (e.g. zebrafish)
- Native/Exotic Wildlife & Marine Animals (e.g. cane toads, anemone fish)
- Companion & Production Animals (e.g. dogs, cats, sheep, horses)
- Other (login required)
If an SOP cannot be located in the expected category listed here, please check all other categories.
PLEASE NOTE: If you require a SOP which is not available, you may need to write it specifically for your application. If you wish the SOP to be considered a standard UQ AEC approved SOP, it must be drafted following the standard UQ SOP format and then reviewed by the veterinary officer, prior to submission to the AEC. Please contact the Veterinary Officer, aeu.vet@uq.edu.au for further information. |
Archived SOPs:
The following SOPs have not been reviewed by a UQ AEC within the last 3 years, and therefore approval has lapsed. Please check the current SOP lists above to ensure a new version has not replaced one of these SOPs, before commencing the process to renew the SOP.
If you wish to use one of the SOPs contained in the archived lists (but not renew it), please contact the Veterinary Officer, aeu.vet@uq.edu.au, to obtain a copy of the SOP. To include this in your application, you must copy and paste the details into the procedure of the appropriate experiment. The AEC will determine whether the procedure to be undertaken is still appropriate.
If you wish to renew one of the SOPs contained within the lists below, this will need to be redrafted following the standard UQ SOP format. It will need to be reviewed by the Veterinary Officer, prior to submission to the AEC. Please contact the Veterinary Officer, aeu.vet@uq.edu.au for further information.
- Animal Handling Procedures (AHP) (login required) - SOPs that contain a level of complexity and are used routinely as experimental procedures, e.g. AHP 74 Intracerebroventricular Cannula Implantation in the Rat.
- Animal Handling Techniques (AHT) (login required) - SOPs that describe many of the basic techniques commonly used in research, e.g. AHT 43 Tail tipping in mice.
- Animal Surgical Techniques (AST) (login required) - SOPs that describe the minimum acceptable standards for conducting surgery on laboratory animals, e.g. AST 01 Clean Technique for Laboratory Animal Surgery.
- Animal Teaching Techniques (ATT) (login required) - SOPs that describe commonly used techniques in teaching/husbandry, e.g. ATT 07 Artificial insemination in cattle.
- External SOPs (login required) - SOPs made available to UQ for use, by organisations external to UQ.
Information to include when using SOPs in an application
Provide both the number and the title of the SOP (e.g. LAB_031 Fluorescent/bioluminescence imaging of live rodents).
Read the SOP and make sure that no other information is required. For example, many SOPs direct the use of an ‘anaesthetic of choice’, in which case you must provide details of the anaesthetic including dose, route, volume, needle gauge and frequency of administration.
To perform any of the listed SOPs the operator must be considered competent. In the relevant section of your application you will be required to identify the person/people performing the procedures and their experience. If further training is required, you must advise who will provide the training.
Variations to a standard UQ SOP
If your requirements are very similar to a listed SOP but you need to make a minor modification, provide the SOP number and title (as standard), but then also provide the details of the proposed deviation for AEC consideration.
Information to include when using external SOPs
Where an SOP from another institution is used, which is not found on the UQ website, it must be attached to the application. The source of the SOP must be cited and full title specified in the relevant section.
Further to this, it is expected that the procedural details you intend to use are described in the application, as compared to simply providing a link to an external reference. For example, an attached external SOP might describe various methods of trapping wildlife. If you only intend to use one of these methods (e.g. pit fall traps), this needs to be detailed in association with the attachment
Each application is considered to be standalone, so even if the same procedure is used on more than one application if it is an external SOP, these specifics must be provided on each application.
Contributing to the SOP database
Animal Ethics encourages contributions to the UQ SOP database for generic protocols and procedures that would reasonably be used by many teaching or research groups across the University. Contact the Veterinary Officer aeu.vet@uq.edu.au for help in preparing SOPs for submission to the AEC for approval.
Conditions of UQ SOPs
For any UQ SOP submitted in association with an ethics application the following conditions apply:
- The current standard UQ SOP template must be used
- Any investigators named in the application to perform the SOP must be competent to do so
- Any intended variation to an SOP must be described in the application
- SOPs must be reviewed by the AEC at least every three years. (Failure to do so means its approval lapses and it cannot be used until AEC review and approval is re-established)
- Approved SOPs must be made available to all relevant people, including AEC members