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Industries / Biotechnology / Animal-care agent

Biotechnology AI agent · Animal care

Animal Care & Use Protocol Governance AI Agent

Track each protocol, amendment and semiannual review against the interval it is measured by, and put the calendar, the findings and their correction dates in front of the committee that signs.

4–6 weeksTypical delivery
Your stackDeployment
Programme-wideIACUC approval
Agent CareAfter launch

What this agent does

Builds the calendar, never the approval

In
01

A protocol is approved, and the agent runs its expiry against the 9 CFR 2.31(d)(5) floor and your own stated interval.

02

A review falls due, and the agent counts the programme review and the facility inspection as two six-month clocks.

Reason
03

An amendment is filed, and the agent holds the protocol at its current scope until the committee records a decision.

04

A finding is recorded, and the agent shows the plan-and-schedule date the committee wrote against today.

05

A correction date passes, and the agent starts the 15-business-day notice and names every federal sponsor on it.

Decide
06

A person joins a protocol, and the agent tracks training and occupational-health enrolment as separate states.

07

A fiscal year closes, and the agent derives both 1 December reports from one record and shows why the counts differ.

Out
08

A protocol lapses, and its animals, its findings and the assurance it sat under are retained against the record.

09

Execute write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.

Product statement

The agent assembles the record and runs the clocks; a majority of the committee approves, and the institutional official signs the assurance and the annual report.

Example workflow

One protocol, approval to expiry

AgentHuman
1Protocol receivedProtocol system, amendment form, veterinary record or facility register
2Record assembledSpecies, procedures, personnel, training and facility, each with its named source
3Calendar draftedExpiry dates, review windows, open findings and confidence
4Controls appliedInterval checks, amendment and training currency, finding dates and confidence threshold
No human action required

Stages 1 to 4 run unaided, and nothing is decided or closed at any of them — the agent is assembling, and the committee's lane opens at the confidence gate.

5DecisionBranches at the confidence threshold
High confidence

Goes to the IACUC chair to read.

Low confidence

Adds an attending veterinarian read first.

Committee review

The record is held with its sources, its open findings and the confidence.

Approve · Edit · Send to the attending vet
Approved — released to the committee
6Protocol registers updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
7Outcome evaluatedRecord completeness, finding-date outcomes, review turnaround and post-report corrections
Edits

Every committee edit is counted, and so is every correction made after the report was signed.

What should not run autonomously

Human approval stays in control

Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items
Writing the alternatives narrative under 9 CFR 2.31(d)(1)(ii).
Running the alternatives search the investigator must consider.
Determining that a procedure causes no more than slight pain.
Assigning the USDA pain and distress column for a protocol.
Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided
Run the protocol, amendment, review and training clocks.
Assemble the evidence behind both 1 December annual reports.
Hold each finding open against the date the committee wrote.
Flag a narrative that is missing, undated or copied, and hold the record.
Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of a committee vote.
Deciding a protocol, an amendment or a suspension.
Closing a finding, or recording it as corrected.
Signing the assurance, the annual report or a noncompliance report.
Changes to interval, escalation or reporting rules.

Example output

One protocol record, annotated

The record is what the committee reads before it votes, and what an inspector reads afterwards.

Protocol-record output · single protocolIllustrative example
Protocol
Flag raised
Review due
Source of record
Confidence
Attribution
Three-year rodent study
The alternatives narrative is undated and repeats an unrelated protocol word for word
Complete review
Prior protocol file
91%
Investigator and protocol ID
As receivedTaken from the protocol file and the committee minutes — nothing on this side is written by the agent.
Evidence used Narrative date recorded Databases the PI listed Prior protocol text
Why this was flaggedWe check that the narrative exists and is the investigator's own — we do not write it, and we never will.
ActionApproveEditSend to the attending vet
What the score decidesBelow the configured threshold the record picks up an attending vet read before the committee.

Value

Where AI adds value

The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.

Where the value landsValue 01 – 04
Every protocolFrom the protocol file
03Assembly

Assemble from the record

Draw on the protocol file, the minutes, the training roster and the facility register — the record, never the deliberation.

01Approved path

The committee decides, not us

The chase, the clocks and the assembly come back; the committee's deliberation time is not the saving.

02Human review

Aim the review at what is late

Protocols near expiry and findings past their correction date surface first; the agent never records one as corrected.

04Build an evidence trail

The protocol, the review it is due and the official who signed stay on the assurance.

Integrations

Typical integrations

Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.

Protocol systemsCayuse · Topaz Elements
Key Solutions · eSirius
Vivarium & censusTick@Lab · Granite
Animal census records
Training & occ healthCITI Program records
Occupational health file

Agent

Protocol & programme governance

Reads the record
Runs the clocks
Holds for the committee

Facilities & findingsFacility inspection log
Semiannual report file
Observability & evaluationOpenTelemetry · Langfuse
Supported monitoring/evaluation sources

Integration availability depends on the client's existing systems and API access.

Agent controls

Six layers between the model and the committee

Six shells, outermost read first. What none of the six holds is named in the map beneath this.

L6 · Outermost — last line of defenceInward → L1 · closest to the model
L6Rollback / safe modeNarrow the agent to calendar assembly when evaluation or production signals degrade.Roll back
L5Version monitoringTrack model, prompt and interval-rule changes, and the currency date of every rule read.Track
L4TraceabilityRecord the sources, the record, the open findings and the time it was released.Record
L3Committee reviewHold records for the committee; it governs release of the record, not whether the vote taken after it is right.Gate
L2Policy guardrailsTest records against the configured interval, currency and evidence rules; a failure returns the record.Restrict
L1Confidence thresholdsRoute low-confidence records to an attending veterinarian read before the committee sees them.Require review
Model coreRecord assembled — expiry dates, review windows, open findings and confidence
L1 – L2Test whether a record may stand
L3Leaves the vote with the committee
L4 – L5Keep the protocol and the review behind it
L6Reverts to calendar assembly when signals degrade

How Nestack evaluates it

Evaluate the governance workflow — not only the finished calendar.

Coverage runs the whole depth of the workflow, and every layer is cut by slice.

Surface — the record the committee reads
Depth of coverage ▼
E1Final-output evaluationDid every date in the record trace back to the document it came from?
E2Step-level evaluationDid the agent use the right protocol, interval and the rules in force that day?
E3Tool evaluationDid it read and write the correct protocol and the correct field?
E4Confidence calibrationDo low-confidence records actually attract more committee edits?
E5Slice evaluationHow does performance change across specific protocol types?
E6Business outcomeHow many records needed a committee edit or a correction after the report was signed?
Floor — the outcome the institution answers for

Failure modes

Where each failure originates in the agent

Seven failure modes, each set at the stage where it first arises.

Agent lifecycleDirection of processing →
01 · Retrieval1 mode
EY-03

Rescinded guidance

Reporting read from a notice rescinded in January 2026.

Stage gathersProtocols, reviews, training records and rules
02 · Reasoning2 modes
EY-04

Interval read as a quota

Two reviews in the year, the six-month gap breached.

EY-06

Annual cycle enforced

A three-year complete review is never scheduled.

Stage proposesExpiry dates, open review windows and confidence
03 · Tool / write2 modes
EY-02

Amendment read as decided

Work starts while the committee has not voted.

EY-05

Escalation list short

The notice goes out and one sponsor is missed.

Stage writesOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
04 · Output1 mode
EY-01

Finding without a date

No correction date, so nothing can age against it.

Stage returnsThe record the committee reads before it votes
05 · Change / Version1 mode
EY-07

Silent interval drift

A config change widens the window the agent accepts.

Stage tracksModel, prompt, interval rules and reporting config
Sev-1 · animals used on a lapsed protocol Sev-2 · a wrong date reaches the report Sev-3 · sources degrade, record goes to review

Affected slices

A programme-wide figure can hide one species group

A programme-level calendar-currency figure can look sound while a few species groups and protocol types carry most of the rework behind it. Nestack reports the record-rework rate by slice, not only in total.

Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example
SliceFailure rateLift Lift vs. thresholdStatus
Non-human primate protocols6.7%3.6× Review
Amended field-study protocols4.7%2.5× Review
USDA-covered farm species3.0%1.6× Watch
Single-site rodent protocols1.9%1.0× Normal
Bar: record-rework-rate lift vs. the single-site rodent baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold 2 of 4 slices over threshold

Evidence-linked improvement

No cycle closes without a new case

The loop shuts when the lapsed protocol is a regression case. That suite is what the next review calendar built is measured against.

Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
01Detect

Record-rework rate rises in a protocol slice.

02Diagnose

The protocol that expired between the study and the paper is read back until the cause narrows to one.

03Improve

Any change ships with a number, and the protocols attach to it.

04Verify

One protocol case still failing is enough to hold the release.

05Learn

One case joins the suite, one line joins the programme record.

Learn → DetectThe return edge. The next calendar is built against a suite one case longer.

Typical build scope

Twelve workstreams across six weeks

The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, governance workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.

Workstream Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
01Programme workflow and escalation-boundary definition.
02Protocol and vivarium source assessment.
03Interval, amendment and training-currency mapping.
04Protocol-record ingestion and mapping.
05Calendar logic and finding-date binding.
06Confidence scoring and record routing.
07Committee review workflow.
08Protocol and vivarium-system integration.
09Calendar and currency cases.
10Guardrails and reporting controls.
11Protocol-trail instrumentation.
12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallel Final scope and sequence confirmed in discovery

Engagement tiers

What each tier includes

Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.

Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tier PilotOne programme, one committee ProductionProduction protocol systems AdvancedMultiple assurances / sites
Introduced at Pilot
Clocks run to your intervals
Committee review
Calendar-currency baseline
Introduced at Production
Reporting by species group
Review workflow in your systems
Approved write-back
Protocol-system integration
Introduced at Advanced
Multi-regulator interval rules
Multi-stage committee reviews
High protocol volume
Multi-assurance reporting controls
Build price From $5,000 From $8,000 Custom quote
Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, protocol volume, review controls and deployment requirements.
Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.

What we need from you

What you bring, and what we build with it

Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.

You bringWe build with it
01Your protocol list and species groups Protocol-record ingestion and mappingWeek 1
02Representative protocols and semiannual reports Calendar baseline, interval extraction and record bindingWeek 2
03Your interval, escalation and reporting rule sources Interval, amendment and training-currency mappingWeek 1
04Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports Protocol, vivarium and training assessment, then integration setupWeek 2
05Programmes you would not want inspected Expiry cases and the evaluation suiteWeek 4
06What no annual report may omit Confidence scoring, record routing, guardrails and reporting controlsWeek 3
07Named committee members to read records Committee review workflow, then pilot and production validationWeeks 5–6
Nothing else is required Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.

Delivery timeline

Four phases across six weeks

What fixes each width is elapsed time and not layout, so the fifth band honestly carries a pair.

Phase W1W2W3W4W5W6
Discovery W1
Build W2 – W3
Evaluate W4 – W5
Pilot & Launch W5 – W6
Week focus W1Programme workflow discovery, interval mapping and the escalation boundary W2Protocol, vivarium and training integration and the calendar baseline W3Governance workflow, confidence logic and committee-review controls W4Evaluation suite, interval checks and failure-mode testing W5Reporting-system integration, pilot protocols and targeted corrections W6One semiannual cycle run under the attending veterinarian, then Agent Care handover
Reading the bandA bar covers the weeks its work is named in, and nothing else. The week 5 overlap is real, not padding.
At the end of W6Once the review calendar validates, Agent Care assumes the agent.
DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.

Next step · Biotechnology AI agent

Build a governance agent that will not let a protocol lapse quietly.

Show us your protocol list, your semiannual calendar and who signs. Your IACUC coordinator already knows which protocol is closest to expiry and cannot prove it to anybody else. We sell calendar, completeness and record — not approval throughput, not faster approvals, and not less committee friction, because some of that friction is the committee doing its job. Two annual reports fall on 1 December, harmonised onto that date by NOT-OD-20-109 of 21 May 2020, and they describe two populations that will never tie: the Animal Welfare Act definition at 7 U.S.C. 2132(g) excludes purpose-bred rats and mice and birds, while PHS Policy covers all live vertebrates. We hold both from one record and show why the two counts differ. If a date we tracked is wrong after the annual report is signed, the unwind is a preliminary report, a corrective plan and a final report the institutional official signs, plus a re-examination of the tracker that failed. One refusal, stated in front: we do not write the alternatives-search narrative required by 9 CFR 2.31(d)(1)(ii). The regulation requires that the investigator considered alternatives, and the narrative is the evidence of that consideration — so automating it produces a compliant artefact of a deliberation that never happened. Our research-literature copilot, on the shelf next door, runs a recorded search, screens records against stated criteria and extracts outcomes into an evidence table; it could draft this narrative tomorrow, and we will not point it here. We will tell you the narrative exists, when it was written, which databases and date ranges the investigator recorded, and whether it was copied from another protocol. Prompt reporting to OLAW runs on NOT-OD-25-148 of 20 January 2026, which replaced the notice rescinded that day and sets no day count, so we age it and do not invent a deadline. We found no regulator-published deficiency or citation rate, so nothing here rests on one.

Nestack Agents · Animal care governanceAGT-BT-20 · Agent Care available after launch