Teaching Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR): A Resource Guide for Professional Science Master’s Degree Programs
Case Studies from Computational Sciences
Case: Restricting Facility Access
Discipline:
Computational Sciences
Title:
Restricting Facility Access
Authors:
John Newsam, Ph.D., Rob Edward, Ph.D., Carney Cheng, M.S.
Dr. Jay Mahata purchases transgenic rodents for laboratory research from a company that is accused
of mistreating its animals and raising them in less than sanitary conditions. Dr. Mahata has had
pleasant experiences with their employees and sales representative in the past. When asked about the
accusations, the sales representative gives the corporate cookie cutter answer, claiming they are a
“top-notch” facility with the utmost professionalism. Your requests to visit their facility are
restricted to the times of pre-arranged appointments and you can view only the sterile visiting area.
The rodents and their cages seem okay, but you can never see the conditions beyond the
“Employees Only” door. They claim that they cannot risk contaminating the other mice.
Three other suppliers have the same animals available, but they are all significantly more expensive
than your current supplier. What might Dr. Mahata do?
Analysis:

Parties – Who is involved?

Actions – What are the possible options?

Consequences – What are the potential consequences?

Obligations – What are the obligations?
Teaching Questions with Analysis:

Parties
o Dr. Jay Mahata and his research colleagues
o The animal housing center and their staff

Actions
o Dr. Mahata can move animal housing centers.
o Dr. Mahata can file a complaint with IACUC.
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Teaching Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR): A Resource Guide for Professional Science Master’s Degree Programs

Consequences
o Moving animal housing centers or filing a complaint may ruin his current experiments
with the animals housed at the current center.

Obligations
o Dr. Mahata has an obligation to his test subjects and the science community to demand
verifiable accountability.
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