IBC Policy 210 - IBC Structure and Responsibilities

Adopted September 18, 2025

I. Policy Purpose

This policy describes the responsibilities of the Institutional Biosafety Committee.

II. Policy Definitions

NIH Guidelines refers to The NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acids, 89 CFR 24016.

r/sNAs refers to Recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids.

Regulated activities include any research, teaching, and/or contracted service activity conducted by SIUC faculty, staff, volunteers, and students.

III. Policy Statement

The SIUC Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is established as described in the NIH Guidelines Section IV-B-2. The Institutional Official (IO) appoints IBC members, generally for a term of three years. 

The IBC is comprised of a minimum of five voting members who collectively have experience and expertise in work with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards, have the capability to assess the safety of proposed research, and to identify any potential risk to researchers, the public, or the environment. Members shall include the following:

• A minimum of two members will serve as Community Representatives on the committee. Other than their service on this committee, they will have no other affiliation with SIUC. These members may be individuals affiliated with state or local public health, with private health care providers, with an environmental protection or oversight agency, with other local government bodies, or may be people active in medical, occupational, or environmental concerns in the community.
• At least one member of the IBC will have expertise in the use of r/sNAs in plants, plant pathogens, or plant pest containment.
• At least one member of the IBC will have expertise in the use of r/sNAs in animals.
• At least one member of the IBC will have expertise and knowledge of institutional commitments, policies, and applicable laws. The IO generally appoints the Director of Research Compliance to fulfill this membership requirement.
• At least one member of the IBC will represent laboratory staff.
• The Institutional Biosafety Officer (IBO) will be a member of the committee, in reference to Policy 230.

 As long as their expertise and position qualify them, a member may fulfill one or more of the above areas of expertise. The IO may appoint other voting members to the committee outside the roles listed above.

If SIUC should participate in, or sponsor, use of r/sNAs and/or biological hazards involving human subject participants, or if SIUC engages in work with gene drive modified organisms, the Committee will use ad hoc consultants to ensure that the Committee has adequate expertise and training to address concerns with human subjects and requirements for work with gene drives, if there are no committee members with such expertise.

Each voting member may have one or more alternates, appointed by the IO. If the voting member is unable to attend a committee meeting, the appointed alternate can vote on behalf of the absent member. An alternate member may only act as a substitute for one member during a discrete meeting. Alternate members may attend any meeting for the purpose of learning about activities but may not vote when attending in an alternate capacity.

Ex officio and ad hoc members may be included in meetings to provide information or advice but will not be voting members.

Principal investigators may attend the portion of a committee meeting in which their proposed activity is discussed, to provide information and answer questions. When possible and consistent with protection of privacy and proprietary interests, meetings are open to the public at large.

IV. General Procedures

The Institutional Biosafety Committee is charged with overseeing all activities with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards at SIU Carbondale. To that end, the committee shall:

• Hold regular meetings and conduct activities.
• The Committee, working with the Office of Research Compliance (ORC, see Policy 260), will prepare the annual report to the NIH Office of Science Policy. The annual report will include a roster of the members, and a CV/biographical sketch of all members.
• The Committee will review all Memoranda of Understanding and Agreements (MUAs) for proposed work with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards at SIU. The Committee may approve MUAs, request modifications of the MUA to secure approval, or disapprove of MUAs. The Committee will conduct an annual review of existing MUAs.
• No member of the Committee may be involved (except to provide information as needed by the Committee) in review or approval of a project in which they have been, or expect to be, engaged, or in which they have direct financial interest or other conflict of interest.
• Members of the Committee may assist the IBO in periodic facilities inspections, as described in Policy 230.
• Following any significant violations of the NIH Guidelines, or any accidents or illnesses associated with work with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards, the IBC will generate and submit a report to the IO in consultation with the Office of Research Compliance. The IO will review, approve and sign the report, which will be sent to NIH OSP within 30 days.
• The Committee will review and approve plans for emergency unintentional release and personnel contamination resulting from, or involving, work with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards. The Committee will review and approve activities for waste disposal from activities with r/sNAs and/or biological hazards. The plans will be established with the input of the appropriate institutional offices, such as the Center for Environmental Health and Safety at SIUC and reviewed periodically.
• In accordance with the United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential, the Institutional Biosafety Committee will act as the Institutional Review Entity (IRE) as described in the DURC Policy, to oversee Federally funded life science research projects that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be misapplied to do harm with no, or only minor, modification to pose a significant threat with potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security.