Dr. Yoshihiro Katayama successfully completed his PhD research at Great Eastern University and returned home to Japan and his new job as an assistant professor of molecular biology. His mentor during his PhD studies, Dr. Henry Miller, was rightly proud of Katayama’s work and looked forward to the publication of their final collaborative studies. When that research was finally published, it was well received and highlighted in a university news release. The chairman of the Great Eastern IACUC, Dr. Larry Covello, read the release and then read the published article. Covello could not remember any such study being approved by the IACUC, but the article clearly stated that the research had received IACUC approval. Covello asked the IACUC office to check Miller’s IACUC files. No record of that research could be found. There was no record of Katayama being a principal investigator, so Covello asked Miller for an explanation. Miller said he was sure that Katayama had submitted an IACUC protocol, but after a search of IACUC and laboratory records, it became clear that Katayama had inadvertently used the IACUC approval number of one of Miller’s other protocols for the research that led to the publication. There had never been an IACUC review of that work.

Neither Miller nor Katayama had ever caused a problem for the IACUC. However, the work was performed without IACUC approval or oversight; the findings were important; and they were published in a prestigious journal. What, if anything, do you think Miller and the IACUC should do?