Biosafety
The purpose of the Iowa State University Biosafety Program is to assist in protecting faculty, staff and students from exposure to biohazardous materials, to guard against the release of biohazardous materials that may harm humans, animals, plants or the environment, and to protect the integrity of experimental materials.
The Biosafety Program seeks to fulfill these goals by providing guidance for the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), managing the Bloodborne Pathogen (BBP) Exposure Control Plan, and conducting exposure assessments for the Occupational Medicine (Occ Med) Program. EH&S also assists with shipping biohazardous materials, schedules certification of biosafety cabinets, advises staff who work with biohazardous materials, oversees proper disposal of biohazardous wastes, and provides assistance with obtaining regulatory permits.
The Biosafety Manual outlines appropriate practices, university policies and regulatory requirements for working safely with biohazardous materials. Additionally, the EH&S Biosafety staff is available to assist researchers in determining appropriate practices and facilities for biocontainment, proper biohazardous waste disposal methods, which regulatory guidelines apply to their research projects, shipping requirements for biohazardous materials, and whether any regulatory permits are needed.
Definition of Biohazardous Materials
Biohazardous materials are those materials of biological origin that could potentially cause harm to humans, domestic or wild animals, or plants. Examples include recombinant DNA; transgenic animals or plants; human, animal or plant pathogens; biological toxins (such as tetanus toxin); human blood and certain human body fluids; and human or primate cell cultures.