The Research Integrity & Compliance Review Office (RICRO) provides assistance to faculty, staff, and student investigators in navigating the regulatory compliance environment. While regulatory compliance is an individual responsibility, it takes a comprehensive effort to ensure the institution is applying sound management practices in conducting and promoting responsible and ethical research. To that end, RICRO staff work collaboratively with investigators and University review committees to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and guidelines in a number of regulatory areas, including:

• compliance with regulations surrounding human participants in research
• the care and use of animals in teaching, testing, and research
• biosafety (including the use of recombinant DNA, infectious agents, and human bodily fluids and cells)
• responsible conduct of research (RCR)
• conflict of interest (COI) and conflict of commitment (COC)
• meeting established quality standards in research and manufacturing activities
• review and facilitation clinical trials and studies using client-owned animals
• guidance and direction with respect to cannabis and hemp research

When conducting research, whether externally funded or not, the onus of responsibility for regulatory compliance resides with the investigator. That said, RICRO staff, along with unit research administrators and OSP staff can assist investigators with myriad of compliance requirements, especially when it comes to funded research.

The first step in providing assistance is being aware of the compliance areas listed above and noticing when proposed research intersects with these areas. If you see human subject incentive payments or animal care costs in a budget, ensure that Kuali Research Proposal Development (KR PD) record indicates IRB (Institutional Review Board) or IACUC (Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee), respectively. If you notice an investigator is working with pathogens, or performing gene editing or analyses, ensure that KR PD record indicates IBC (Institutional Biosafety Committee) approval. If you note that one of the key personnel is working with a company owned by that investigator or a family member, check to see if they have completed their COI disclosure. For NSF-, NIH-, and USDA NIFA-funded research remind investigators of the need for RCR training for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.

While some compliance regulations must be in place and certified during the proposal stage, others come into play just in time for an award to be made or during the course of the project. Regardless of when the regulations “kick in,” having an awareness of projects that involve compliance areas, coupled with sponsor mandated certifications and training, goes a long way in directing the investigator appropriately.

With so many areas of regulatory compliance, sponsor and institutional rules and regulations, and the number of individuals involved in support of the research, it takes awareness, communication, and collaboration to ensure research at CSU is conducted ethically and in accordance with applicable regulations and guidelines.

To learn more about regulatory compliance at CSU, visit the RICRO website at https://www.research.colostate.edu/ricro