Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)
The Institutional Biosafety Committee IBC is responsible for establishing guidelines and implementing practices that ensure safe usage of all infectious agents, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids, biological toxins and human samples within the research laboratories and/or animal facilities of UMass Chan in accordance with federal, state and local regulations.
In this capacity, the IBC assigns appropriate biocontainment levels and ensures compliance with National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines and regulations. The IBC also communicates as needed with the UMass Chan offices of Employee Health, Animal Medicine, and Environmental Health and Safety.
The mission of the IBC is to work with researchers to ensure responsible and safe research practices. Principal investigators should visit the IBC intranet site 
for essential information and training that may be required for research approval.
Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) is life sciences research that, may provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, plants, animals, the environment, or national security.