Institutional Biosafety Committee

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The UCI  Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) was created under mandate from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The IBC is a faculty-led committee appointed by the UCI Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) and consists of experts in various fields, including biosafety, human gene therapy, infectious disease, recombinant DNA, animal containment, plant containment, and occupational health. The IBC is responsible for establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policies and procedures involving hazardous biological materials and recombinant/synthetic nucleic acids to meet applicable federal, state, local and institutional regulations and guidelines.

The IBC reviews and approves protocols for academic research and teaching laboratories involving the following materials:

• Recombinant/synthetic nucleic acid molecules, as covered by the NIH Guidelines
• Infectious agents that can cause disease in healthy humans and/or significant environmental or agricultural impacts, as covered by the BMBL, Cal/OSHA Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard, CDC notifiable disease
• Select agents and select toxins, as covered by the CDC DSAT regulations
• Human and nonhuman primate materials, as covered by the Cal/OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard
• Genetically-modified animals and whole plants, as covered by the NIH Guidelines

At its discretion, the IBC may also review protocols involving animals or animal specimens known to be reservoirs/vectors of zoonotic diseases. 

Resources

• UCI Biosafety Guidance for SARS-Coronavirus-2 (COVID-19) Research
• IBC Charge
• IBC FAQs
• IBC members only
• IBC’s position on Bunsen Burners use in Biosafety Cabinet
• IBC’s guidance on safe handling of human cell lines
• NIH Guidelines
• Transgenic Animals and the Use of rDNA in Animals
• NIH Lentiviral Vectors
• Human Gene Therapy (HGT)