Biological Safety

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 Institutional Biosafety Committee  

​​All experiments involving recombinant DNA, biological toxins, and other biohazards must be approved by the Biological Safety Committee.​

• ​Purpose
  
  
• Review and approved proposed research involving biohazards to ensure compliance with NIH Guidelines
  
• Providing guidance to UHD safety functions
  
• Collaborate with other UH System components to facilitate protocol review and approval
  
• Imposing necessary actions to assure regulatory compliance with biological safety requirements
  
  
• ​Composition
  
  
• Current list found at - Biosafety Committee | University of Houston-Downtown (uhd.edu)
  

​​​​Laboratory Biosafety Guidance

• UHD Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) -  Biological Safety in Laboratories page​​
  


• CDC/NIH Guidelines (2020) - Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) 6th Edition | CDC Laboratory Portal | CDC
  
• NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant and Synthetic Nucleic Acid Modules (2021) - NIH Guidelines – Office of Science Policy
  

Required Training
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• Lab training with Principal Investigator on operations/techniques/equipment specific to that group
  
• Online CITI Training
  
• Required for all Biosafety Level 2 laboratory-based faculty, staff and students, valid for 1 year
  
• CITI Program Homepage: https://www.citiprogram.org/
  
• CITI Access Guidance. pdf - use this guide to register quickly and to add the appropriate course
  

Forms

• Faculty working with biological hazards must complete:
  
• Project Hazard Assessment Form (PHA)
  
  
• Depending on the responses given in the PHA and the assessment by the IBC, it may be necessary to complete a Memorandum of Understanding with UH​ (provided by IBC) 
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Links

• UHD Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) -  Biological Safety in Laboratories page