Mission Statement

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

The University of New Mexico on the main campus established an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to review the purpose and procedures of biomedical and behavioral research with vertebrate animals. Research with animals may take many forms, including laboratory and field studies, and sometimes combinations of both. The committee ensures that the physical facilities housing research animals and that the investigators conducting the research meet the highest standards of excellence. The fundamental mission of the committee is to make certain that proposed research will not be redundant, animal pain and discomfort will be minimized, and that the researcher has carefully considered whether the research goals could be achieved without the use of live animals. The IACUC, composed of experienced researchers, veterinarians, academic non-researchers and the public, is committed to fostering rigorous, humane and ethically justified scientific research.