Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

New NIH 鈥淒angerous Gain-of-Function鈥 Research Requirements (6/24/2025)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued new requirements for notification, suspension, or termination of 鈥渄angerous gain-of-function research.鈥 Please see the news post linked above for more information.

Overview

In order to ensure all biosafety spaces are inspected and that the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) has a record of all biosafety work being conducted on campus, IBC registration is required for all labs (research and/or educational) using biological materials of any kind.

IBC protocol approval is required prior to the use of biohazards in research or teaching. Under U海角社区 policy, 鈥渂iohazard鈥 includes recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules (including plants), biological materials/biospecimens (human and animal blood, bodily fluids, and/or tissues), infectious agents*, or select agents/toxins. (*The University of 海角社区 has defined 鈥渋nfectious agents鈥 as all bacterial, parasitic, fungal, viral, and prion, included within Class 2 or higher classes; see Appendix B of .)

For guidance on whether your biohazards work requires IBC or other approvals, view the IBC Registration and Protocol Submission Flow Chart: Diagram IBC Flow Chart (Word);听Plain Text IBC Flow Chart (Word).

Questions regarding the IBC may be directed to umric@maine.edu.

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Contact for IBC Questions

umric@maine.edu