Institutional Biosafety Committee

Committee Mission Statement

The mission of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) at MSU is to ensure that activities with biohazardous material are conducted safely and responsibly. To fulfill this commitment, the IBC reviews and monitors all research and teaching activities by faculty, staff, and students that utilize infectious agents, human body fluids or tissues, and recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules.

The IBC is comprised of faculty representatives from various academic disciplines at MSU, researchers, non-scientific members, and community representatives who are not affiliated with the university. The committee typically meets monthly to review research protocols and other submitted materials.

List of Committee Duties

• Review and approval of the research or teaching activity performed by individual researchers, on a regular and continuing basis.
• Independent assessment of the containment levels required for the work, as stipulated by the NIH Guidelines and/or BMBL, for all experiments, including those involving whole plants and/or animals, cell cultures, tissues, human-derived materials, biological toxins, infectious agents, and regulated pathogens and pests.
• Assessment of facilities, procedures, practices, and training and expertise of personnel involved with biohazardous research.
• Notification of Principal Investigators (PIs) of the results of the IBC's review and approval.
• Developing emergency plans covering accidental spills and  personnel contamination resulting from research using recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules.
• Reporting of significant problems with, or violations of the NIH Guidelines and any significant research related accidents or illnesses to ORC and the appropriate institutional official, and when necessary to the NIH.
• Suspension or termination of research that is not being conducted in accordance with IBC requirements.

Activities Requiring Protocols

• Recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules (e.g., rDNA).
• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) including, but not limited to:
  • Animals, plants, invertebrates, and/or other organisms created by MSU employees or in/on MSU property.
  • Transgenic field trials, any regulated genetically modified organisms to be introduced into the environment.
  • Field testing of plants engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial compounds.
• Pathogens/infectious agents and pests (RG2/BSL2 or higher), human and animal pathogens, non-indigenous plant pathogens as well as those plant and animal pests regulated by the USDA-APHIS.
• Select/Biological Agents and Toxins (CDC and USDA).
  Note: the possession, use, or transfer of Selet Agents and Toxins entails additional requirements - Contact the ORC for additional information. 
• Unfixed human and non-human primate cells (including cell lines), tissue, blood, and potentially infectious body fluids.
• Toxins of biological origin.
• Work with animals or vectors known or suspected to be reservoirs of RG2 or RG3 infectious agents when such work increases potential exposure risks to personnel or other animals.
• Oncogenic viruses used in conjunction with animals.

Committee Meeting Times:

Located in Presidents Conference Room- Montana Hall – basement, at 12 noon unless stated otherwise.