UConn Health Biosafety Program

The UConn Health Biosafety Program website is designed to make it easier for our research community to understand biosafety requirements and access the tools and guidance needed to conduct safe, compliant, and productive research. Our goal is to support scientific discovery while minimizing risks—both to people and the environment—and avoiding unnecessary regulatory issues.

To get a general idea of compliance requirements for different areas of research, here is a Regulatory Overview for researchers.

The UConn Health Biosafety Program oversees safety and compliance in the following research areas:

• Research involving biological or biohazardous materials
  Includes any work conducted in research laboratories that may pose a biological risk.
• Work with infectious agents (Risk Group 2 or higher)
  Laboratories handling infectious organisms or viruses must be registered with the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) as required.
• Use of biological toxins, including Select Agents
  Toxins with potential for misuse are regulated under federal Select Agent rules. Contact the Biosafety Program for guidance.
• Recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules (IBC-related)
  Research involving either exempt or non-exempt forms of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids must be reviewed for NIH compliance.
• Human subjects research (IRB-related)
  Projects involving Human Gene Transfer or any biologically-based risk must be reviewed by the Biosafety Program and the IRB for appropriate risk assessment and management.
• Animal research (IACUC-related)
  If your study involves animals, review the occupational health risks in your Animal Care Protocol and consult the Biosafety Program for developing appropriate safety procedures

• Human or non-human primate materials
  This includes blood, body fluids, tissues, and cell lines. Registration with the Biosafety Program is required for any work involving these materials.

  • For human embryonic stem cell research, please contact both the Biosafety Program and the Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee (SCRO)

• Shipping, receiving, or transporting biological materials
  This includes domestic and international transfers. The Biosafety Program provides shipping guidance to ensure compliance with DOT, IATA, USDA, and CDC regulations.

“Select Agents” are not currently authorized at UConn Health.

Handling Infectious Organisms or Viruses

If you work with infectious human pathogens (infectious agents) in your laboratory, you need to register your lab with the Connecticut State Department of Public Health. Contact the Biosafety Office for questions, forms, and checklists. Currently, the highest containment allowed at UConn Health is BSL-2 enhanced. Higher-level risk group organisms/procedure combinations requiring higher containment are not allowed. Work with Proliferating Select Agents is not allowed at UConn Health.

Resources About Infectious Agents

• Risk Groups (RG) and Biosafety Levels (abbreviated “BSL” in the BMBL and “BL” in the NIH r/s NA Guidelines): Infectious agents have been classified into Risk Groups (Appendix B, NIH r/s NA Guidelines criteria for these) based on their inherent disease potential in humans. Biosafety Levels (containment) are standardized “combinations of [protective] laboratory practices and techniques, safety equipment and laboratory facilities”.
• Determining RGs for a given biological agent usually goes by what information can be found about that agent. Sometimes recommendations are given as BSLs. The US may not have classified an agent but maybe the Canadians have or maybe someone else. We typically choose the best information we can find. Here are some places to look:
  • ABSA risk group lists.
  • CDC/NIH’s Guideline, Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), 6th Ed., 2020, has Agent Summary Statements with recommended containment precautions in Section VIII.
  • Appendix B of the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules, November 2013 (NIH r/s NA Guidelines).
  • Pathogen Safety Data Sheets from Canada’s Office of Laboratory Security. They also have handy apps for iOS, Android & Windows.

Contact Biosafety

If you have questions, suggestions or concerns about the Biosafety Program or this website please contact:

Biosafety Program Coordinator: Victoria Scranton, vscranton@uchc.edu or call 860-679-7533

Biological Safety Officer: TBD

or email to ibc@uchc.edu.