Announcements for High School
Teachers and Students
All the
ISEF
Forms and
Research Plan must be submitted to the Scientific Review Committee
(SRC) and approved before
experimentation. All ISEF forms and Research
Plan may be sent to Alisa Wickliff at
abwickli@uncc.edu.
You will be notified of SRC approval within 2 weeks. We
recommend all high school students request SRC
approval before January 2010.
High School students are
required to register and to submit all ISEF Forms, the Research Plan
(approved by the SRC before January 2010), and the ISEF Abstract by February 5, 2010 for
participating in the Regional Science Fair.
Strictly Prohibited List
(Note: Some research that is permissible for professionals in
research institutions is not appropriate for pre-college students.)
Institutional Animal Care and
Use Committee (IACUC) approval is needed for all students
research projects. The projects should be conducted under
the supervision of the principal and should be reviewed by
the local SRC to make certain that the project complies with
the ISEF Rules. The SRC should review the project the
experimentation starts.
Proper euthanasia for tissue
removal and/or pathological analysis is permitted at the end
of the experimentation. But, the euthanasia should be
performed by Qualified Scientist or an institutional
representative and not by the student. The process followed
for euthanasia should adhere to the current AVMA Guidelines.
Project causing more than
momentary pain or suffering to the vertebrate animals are
prohibited. The table below presents the USDA Pain
Categories along with the permissibility of studies for
science fair projects.
USDA Pain
Categories
Definition
ISEF Guidelines
Category A
Live animals
will receive non-painful manipulation. Animals may be
euthanized to obtain tissues, cells, etc.
Permitted
Category B
Live animals
will receive momentary pain or stressful stimulus without
anesthesia, which results in a short-term response. Examples
include but are not limited to: injections, field
trapping/tagging, blood sampling and standard agricultural
husbandry practices.
Permitted
Category C
Live animals
will have significant manipulations, surgery, etc.,
performed while anesthetized. The animals will be euthanized
at the termination of the procedure without regaining
consciousness.
Permitted only with proper
training and certification
Category D
Live animals
will have manipulations performed while anesthetized and are
allowed to recover and/or animals will develop discernable
clinical signs indicating pain, distress, or significant
physiological changes spontaneously or as a result
of specific experimental procedures. Examples include,
but are not limited to: Survival surgical procedures of any
type and some studies which would include tumor development.
ALL SUCH STUDIES MUST INCLUDE TREATMENT TO ALLEVIATE PAIN OR
DISTRESS.
Limited Category D
procedures are permitted with proper training and
certification. The project must adhere to all ISEF rules.
Most Category D projects would be deemed inappropriate for
high school students.
Category E
Live animals
will experience significant/severe pain or distress, without
benefit of anesthetics, tranquilizers or analgesics.
PROHIBITED
Research for nutritional
deficiency, ingestion, inoculation or exposure to unknown or
potentially hazardous material or drugs can be conducted
only to the point of the first sign of deficiency or effect.
After the signs or the effects get detected appropriate
measures should be taken to rectify the deficiency or the
drug effect, if the action is feasible, if not, then the
animal (s) must be euthanized.
