Research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that involves recombinant DNA and/or biohazardous materials should be registered with the MTSU Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). The IBC is responsible for ensuring compliance with NIH Guidelines, reviews and approves protocols, and assigns appropriate biosafety level determinations for research on campus.

All NIH-funded faculty performing research involving recombinant DNA and/or biohazardous materials should complete a New IBC application within Cayuse Hazard Safety following the procedures outlined here. A new IBC protocol must be submitted every 3 years and updated annually as needed.

Training videos for both researchers and IBC committee members on how to use Cayuse Hazard Safety are located here: IBC Hazard Safety Training videos

These videos cannot be downloaded and must be viewed online.

The NIH Guidelines and Lentiviral Vector Containment Guidelines are below for more information. Experiments that require IBC approval before initiation fall into Section III-D of the NIH Guidelines and generally include BSL-2 category agents. Experiments that require IBC notification with simultaneous initiation fall into Section III-E and generally include BSL-1 category agents.

NIH Guidelines April 2019

Lentiviral Vector Containment Guidelines 

Procedure for submission and approval of an IBC protocol

1. Email the ORSP Compliance Officer, Nolan Hatley (Nolan.Hatley@mtsu.edu) and request that you be added to Cayuse Hazard Safety with a “PI” role.
2. Access Cayuse Hazard Safety by signing into PipelineMT, scrolling down to the Employee Resources block on the Home Page, and choosing Cayuse.
3. Follow the instructions with Cayuse Hazard Safety to complete a new or amended protocol. For any issues filling out your protocol, refer to the training videos above.
4. Once your protocol is submitted, the IBC will review the protocol and provide comments and/or necessary changes within your protocol.
5. The IBC will compile all comments and/or necessary changes and provide these to you through a Cayuse-generated email. Please make sure to check your non-focused email if using Outlook as these emails may not fall in the “focused” folder.
6. Within your own Cayuse Hazard Safety account, review and respond to all comments made by the IBC and resubmit your IBC protocol for a final review.
7. An IBC meeting will be called within one month of your submission to discuss your protocol. Upon approval, you will be notified by a Cayuse-generated email with the approval date. All protocols are approved for a three-year period.
8. When it gets close to the expiration date of your approved protocol, you will receive a Cayuse-generated email. Should you want to renew the protocol, you will follow the instructions within Cayuse to do so. If you do not submit a renewal, your protocol will expire on your expiration date.
9. You may amend an IBC protocol by completing an “IBC amendment”. Amendments such as adding or removing personnel or adding or removing proposed activities within an approved protocol should be done annually as needed.
10. Experiments that require IBC approval and involve human subjects or animal work must also gain approval from IRB or IACUC, respectively.