Overview
Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs) are typically assigned additional review responsibilities beyond the scope of the NIH Guidelines
At UNL the IBC reviews:
- Pathogens
- Transgenic organism use
- Bloodborne Pathogens and other Human Materials
- Select Agents and toxins
- Field Work (collection of animals and release of plant pathogens)
- In accordance with the NIH Guidelines, most work involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids must be reviewed by a local Institutional Biosafety Committee. Some experiments are also subject to review by the Office of Science Policy (OSP) or even the NIH Director.
- By policy, the scope of the IBC at UNL goes beyond recombinant and synthetic nucleic acid research and covers human, animal and plant pathogens; potentially infectious materials derived from humans, like blood and tissues; transgenic organism use; select agents; and some field work.
- Any person wishing to conduct work of this nature must submit a protocol to the IBC for review. Part of the IBC’s job is to aid the PI in assessing the risk of the work they want to perform and ensure that they have the proper facilities, procedures and engineering controls to conduct the work safely.