Institutional Biohazards Committee (IBC)
The IBC oversees all activities which pose a biohazard.
Biosafety approval is required for the following activities:
- Activities involving infectious agents of plants, animals and humans
- The use of serum and/or tissue from humans or non-human primates
- Any work involving wild mammals or their tissue
- Creation of transgenic eucaryotes
- Transfection using adenovirus-derived vectors or other vectors capable of infecting human cells.
Cloning of most genes in standard laboratory strains of E. coli and other approved host-vector systems is exempt from IBC review. (There are a few obvious exceptions- for example, toxin genes, virulence factors, or complete virus genomes.)
Contact the Biosafety Office if you have any questions about what requires approval.
Andrew F. Cockburn, PhD
Director of Institutional Biosafety
886 Chestnut Ridge Road, PO Box 6845
293-7157