Fiscal Year 2022 

Point of Contact: JoAnne Dupre ric_admin@nmsu.edu 

Established Date: 04/2002

Authorizing Body or Offical: Vice President for Research

Type of Board: Standing

Scope of Impact: System

Purpose:

The IBC provides safety guidance and compliance oversight for research with biological agents that are infectious or pathogenic to humans, animals, or plants, or that create replicating recombinant nucleic acid molecules.

Authority:

Advisory to the VP-Research for regulatory issues regarding bio-technology, and decision-making for approval of research activities that have biological hazards.

Chair: John Kemp, Emeritus Professor, 6/30/2022 

Process for selecting chair: Appointed by the Vice President for Research, based on recommendations from the committee members and Associate Deans.

How are the chair and members appointed? Biosafety Officer is a position member; faculty and lab staff are appointed as individuals, with two non-Institutional members required by the NIH Guidelines as a condition of institutional research funding.

Are members subject to a term appointment (three years or less)? No

What university function/office is responsible for future appointments? Research Integrity and Compliance

What university office/function provides administrative support to this board or committee? Research Integrity and Compliance

How often will this board or committee meet? Semiannual (minumum every 6 months), and as needed for full-board protocol review

Are there any requirements for the number of meetings to be held? No

In the past fiscal year, what accomplishments have been made (if applicable)?  

Meeting 8/2/2021 for full-board review of three protocols, and three continuing protocols were approved in Fall 2021 through administrative review process. As part of reviews, the Chair and members assess the biosafety manager’s reports of lab inspections and site visits, including annual biosafety cabinet testing (30 labs) and records of steam sterilizer operation (7 locations). A training workshop was held May 25, 2022, for refresher information on the NIH Guidelines and IBC functions, and workshop resources will be distributed to investigators in Fall 2022. IBC members contributed to the development of the new IBC electronic compliance module in Streamlyne, for a planned roll-out at the end of June 2022. The IBC webpage is located at https://research.nmsu.edu/RIC/IBC.html.