Montana State University

Biosafety Home

Biosafety

MSU Dept. of Microbiology
109 Lewis Hall
Bozeman, MT 59717

Fax: 994-4926

Biosafety Officer/Alternate Responsible Official

Jo-An Lindstrom
Tel. (406) 994-4490
lindstrom@montana.edu

Assistant Biosafety Officer

Karen Kelsey
Tel. (406) 994-5657
kkelsey@montana.edu

IBC Chair

Dr. Michele Hardy
Immunology and Infectious Disease
216 Molecular Biosciences Bldg.
Tel. (406) 994-6378
mhardy@montana.edu

Biosafety Program

  1. Acquisition and use of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids, potentially infectious agents, and/or toxins requires:
    1. Approval from the IBC
    2. Training for New PI’s, graduate students, and undergrads(including unpaid undergraduate students working in a lab for credits) —table of training requirements
    3. A completed Laboratory Biosafety manual. Click here for fillable template.
    4. Permits when applicable for acquisition and transfer.
      1. Contact Jo-An Lindstrom, the Biosafety Officer, for help with permits.
      2. Link to some applicable permitting agencies.
    5. Laboratory inspections
      1. Initial Laboratory Inspection: An IBC protocol submission to the Institutional Biosafety Committee will prompt Jo-An Lindstrom, MSU Biosafety Officer, to schedule a lab inspection with the Principal Investigator (PI) of the project .The results of the lab inspection will be considered during IBC review of a project. Click here for an inspection template.
      2. An interim laboratory self-inspection is to be completed by the PI of a project and sent to the IBC for review. This will take place mid-project. The PI will be notified when this self-inspection is to be done, approximately 2.5 years into a project cycle.
  2. Shipping and Receiving Infectious Materials and Dry Ice    
    1. Any MSU personnel involved in any aspect of shipping biological materials or dry ice must go to the CITI website and complete the training module, “Shipping and Transport of Regulated Biological Materials,” prior to shipping potentially infectious materials.  This training must be updated every two years and is administered by the Biosafety Officer, Jo-An Lindstrom.  Contact the Biosafety Officer, at 994-4490, for any questions about shipping infectious materials or to set up hands-on training (DOT 49 CFR 172.704).
    2. Before shipping infectious substances determine the classification of the infectious material. Use the flowchart on page 11 in the pamphlet, Transporting Infectious Substances Safely, from the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardouse Materials Safety Administration. Non-infectious, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) or Genetically Modified Microorganisms (GMMO's) will not be found on the flowchart. These should be shipped using IATA Packing Instructions 959 found here.
    3. Category B infectious substances are packaged using packaging instructions 650
      1. Category A infectious substances cannot be shipped without prior approval from the Biosafety Officer
      2. Acquire proper permits for import or export. Click here for permitting agencies.
    4. Follow these guidelines for receiving infectious materials.
    5. The Shipper must retain all shipping papers and shippers declarations for a period of two years.
    6. International Shipments
      1. A shippers declaration must be completed for all international shipments.
      2. Do not ship any items internationally before consulting with the MSU Office of Legal Counsel to find out if there are export controls that apply to your shipment. View more here.
    7. Other Useful Shipping websites:
      1. IATA Acceptance Checklist for Dry Ice-2012
      2. FedEx

  3. SHARPS, such as needles, scalpels, pipettes, and broken glassware should be handled in the following manner:
    1. Whenever possible, use of sharps with potentially hazardous material will be avoided.  Plasticware will be substituted for glassware whenever possible.
    2. The handling of sharps will be minimized.  Needles will not be bent, sheared, broken, recapped, removed from disposable syringes, or otherwise manipulated by hand before disposal.
    3. Used disposable needles and syringes will be carefully placed in a puncture-resistant containers used for sharps disposal.  Sharps containers will not be beyond ¾ full.  Contact Safety and Risk Management for replacement SHARPS disposal containers at https://www.montana.edu/wwwsrm/forms/waste/
    4. Non-disposable sharps will be placed in a hard walled container for transport to a processing area for decontamination preferably by autoclaving.
    5. Broken glassware will not be handled directly.  It will be removed using a brush and dustpan, tongs, or forceps and properly disposed of glassware waste.
    6. When sharps containers are full, contact https://www.montana.edu/wwwsrm/forms/waste/ for disposal.

  4. Waste Disposal
    1. Infectious waste disposal checklist
    2. SHARPS—contact Safety and Risk Management for the disposal of SHARPS containers at https://www.montana.edu/wwwsrm/forms/waste/.  There is a fee associated with this program.
    3. Autoclave Program--see section 4.14 of the BSL2 Biosafety Manual Template
      1. Click here for a useful website from the University of Virginia on use of autoclaves
    4. Incinerated waste—contact Safety and Risk Management for waste that needs to be incinerated

  5. Biological Safety Cabinets

  6. Incident Reporting
    1. Accidental exposure
    2. Incident involving recombinant and/or synthetic nucleic acids: exposure, spill, accidental release, etc.  Please complete this form and send to Jo-An Lindstrom, MSU Biosafety Officer, who will then report incident to OBA.
    3. Laboratory non-compliance--form pending