An IBC is required for institutions receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules.
You must register your research with the IBC if it involves any of the following:
- recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules as described by the NIH Guidelines,
- human materials such as blood, cells, or tissue,
- infectious agents, or potentially pathogenic material.
The IBC meets monthly, usually on the first Friday of every month. The submission deadline for inclusion in a meeting is approximately two weeks before the meeting. Please see the IBC Calendar for exact dates.
More information on IBC procedures can be found in the IBC Charter.
The IBC is moving to SciShield / SciSure
The IBC is moving the electronic management of stand alone protocols (those not associated with an IRB protocol) from CICERO to SciShield*. This is the same online management system EHS already uses for laboratory inspections, chemical inventories, safety trainings, and more.
Phase 1 (Fall 2025): The ability to create new stand alone IBC protocols will be turned off in CICERO. To create a new protocol in SciShield, your lab must have the bio module turned on. To begin this process, please contact an IBC analyst at 410-706-7055, one of the email addresses listed below, or at biosafety@umaryland.edu.
Phase 2 (beginning in 2026): IBC staff will contact Investigators to migrate existing protocols into SciShield. IBC staff are available to help the PI or a delegate with this process. Each group of Investigators will be given approximately 4 months to complete this process once contacted and a tentative schedule will be posted when available. After a protocol is approved in SciShield, the corresponding protocol in CICERO will be closed.
What about IRB-related IBC protocols?: All protocols associated with IRB studies will remain in CICERO with no changes currently planned.
*Note that SciShield (formerly BioRAFT) is undergoing another rebranding effort and will be called SciSure sometime in the future.