Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

An IBC is required for institutions receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules. 

You must register your research with the IBC if it involves any of the following:

1. recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules as described by the NIH Guidelines,
2. human materials such as blood, cells, or tissue,
3. infectious agents, or potentially pathogenic material.

The IBC meets monthly, usually on the first Friday of every month. The submission deadline for inclusion in a meeting is approximately two weeks before the meeting. Please see the IBC Calendar for exact dates. 

More information on IBC procedures can be found in the IBC Charter.

The IBC is moving to SciShield / SciSure

The IBC is moving the electronic management of stand alone protocols (those not associated with an IRB protocol) from CICERO to SciShield*. This is the same online management system EHS already uses for laboratory inspections, chemical inventories, safety trainings, and more. 

Phase 1 (January 2026): EHS biosafety staff will begin migrating existing IBC protocols from CICERO to SciShield. Our goal is to make the process as easy as possible for the research community. We will communicate with Principal Investigators when their lab is chosen for migration. While much of this process can be done by EHS staff, confirmation must be performed by the Principal Investigator. 

Phase 2 (to be determined): Once a lab is migrated into SciShield, future IBC submissions from that group will be expected to be in the SciShield system. The ability to create new IBC protocols in CICERO will be turned off. 

What about IRB-related IBC protocols?: All protocols associated with IRB studies will remain in CICERO with no changes currently planned. 

*Note that SciShield (formerly BioRAFT) is undergoing another rebranding effort and will be called SciSure sometime in the future. 

Related Links

• Recombinant DNA
• Pathogens
• Human Materials
• Select Agents
• Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)