Vol. 17, No. 37July 23, 1998

Changes made to bio research approval procedures

In the spring of 1997, UD's Department of Occupational Health and Safety initiated the reconstitution and reorganization of the previously established University Biohazards Committee.

According to Robin Elliott, occupational health and safety, "This was done to establish a group to represent users while the Department of Occupational Health and Safety implemented the existing policy (# 7-19) on control of biohazards in research and education, which had been set in place in 1989. As a result, a new University Biosafety Committee (UBC) was established in the fall of 1997 to replace the previous biohazards committee."

The goal of the UBC is to protect lab personnel, others and the environment from potentially hazardous agents involved in biological research, she explained.

With representatives from all of the colleges that perform biological research, this group is responsible for overseeing the biological safety aspects of all University programs involving the use of biohazardous agents. Examples of biohazardous agents are salmonella, hepatitis and the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and botulism. Not all, however, are used at UD. Eventually, the committee will register all biohazardous work occurring on campus.

Members of the UBC include Deanna Benson and Costel Denson, both of the Office of the Vice Provost for Research; Craig Cary, marine studies; Daniel Cha, civil and environmental engineering; Robin Elliott and Krista Murray, both occupational health and safety; Marlene Emara and Conrad Pope, both animal and food sciences; Norman Henry III, DuPont Stine Haskell Laboratory; Harriet Izenberg, University of Pennsylvania; John McDonald and Florence Schmieg, both biological sciences; Mary Miele, medical technology; and Eugene Mueller, chemistry and biochemistry.

The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), which has been in place at UD since the early 1980s, now is a subcommittee of the UBC. The IBC is responsible for reviewing all proposals involving recombinant DNA research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as other sponsoring agencies, require facilities receiving funding to follow their guidelines for work involving recombinant DNA. Any research involving work with recombinant DNA must be registered with the IBC according to University policy.

Current IBC members are Cary, Cha, Emara, Henry, Izenberg, McDonald, Miele, Mueller, Murray, Pope, Schmieg and Joseph Miller, occupational health and safety.

Bertrand Lemieux, plant and soil sciences, chairs both the UBC and the IBC.

Recombinant DNA technology has an impact on many areas of everyday life. It can aid in the diagnosis of many diseases and can be used to produce vaccines. Genetic engineering can be used to produce human insulin, and, in the plant world, can be used in plants to improve resistance against disease and increase crop yields.

For additional information about the University Biosafety Program, please see the OHS web page at http://www.udel.edu/OHS/biosafety.html, contact a member of the committee or call Murray at 831-1433.