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Institutional Biosafety Committee

Biosafety is the application of knowledge, techniques and equipment to reduce the risk of exposure to potentially infectious agents or biohazards which can affect the health of laboratory personnel, the community and/or the environment. The Trinity College Institutional Biosafety Committee oversees the safe conduct of research involving such materials.

About the Committee

The role of the Trinity College Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) role is to ensure the protection of faculty, staff, and students at Trinity College, members of the community, and the environment from potentially harmful biological agents used in research on campus.

The Trinity College IBC provides local review and oversight of nearly all forms of research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules in accordance with the National Institutes of Health’s Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules. The NIH defines recombinant DNA as “(1) molecules that a) are constructed by joining nucleic acid molecules and b) can replicate in a living cell, i.e. recombinant nucleic acids, or (2) nucleic acid molecules that are chemically or by other means synthesized or amplified, including those that are chemically or otherwise modified but can base pair with naturally occurring nucleic acid molecules, i.e. synthetic nucleic acids, or (3)molecules that result from the replication of those described in (1) or (2).” (https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/nihgps)

The Trinity College IBC also operates following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Biosafety in Microbial and Biomedical Laboratories Guidelines to provide local review of a variety of experimentation that involves biological materials (e.g., infectious agents) and other potentially hazardous agents (e.g., microorganisms, fungi, viruses, bloodborne pathogens, biological toxins, and carcinogens) including all human and non-human primate blood, body fluids, tissues, and/or cell lines.

Submitting a Protocol

All faculty, staff, students or other users of the facilities at Trinity College who are planning to do research falling into any of the aforementioned categories must comply with all federal, state, local and college regulations and policies. All protocols, in which any of this research will be used, regardless of the funding source, must be submitted to the IBC for review.

Submit a new protocol by filling out the protocol form (forthcoming). Protocols are active for five years unless there are any changes to the protocol. If there are no changes, after five years, you will need to fill out a protocol renewal form.

Biosafety Training

All personnel involved in biological research, including Principal Investigators, must complete training in biosafety which may include online training (via the CITI program) and/or in-person training. Training will expire five years after the date of completion, at which time personnel must complete the Refresher Training course, also offered through the CITI program.

The Principal Investigator is responsible for ensuring that members of their lab receive proper training in the biohazards and safety controls specific to their research and the safe conduct of the experimental procedures to be used.

  • All personnel are required to complete online CITI training Introduction in Biosafety, which can be accessed here.

CITI Training Instructions

Trinity College freely provides biosafety training to our students, staff, and faculty. Registration and completion of this training will take one to two hours.

1. In your web browser, go to https://www.citiprogram.org.

2. Register to create an account:

  • In Step 1,  select Trinity College as Your Organization Affiliation.
  • In Steps 2-5, enter your name and email address, choose a username and password, and enter optional demographic data. Select No for CEU course credit.
  • In Step 6,  use your @trincoll.edu address for Institutional Email. For Department, enter the department/program of your course or research project. For Role in Research, the most common responses are Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, or Student Researcher.
  • In Step 7, Curriculum, choose Basic Introduction to Biosafety.
  • Skip all other questions on the remainder of this Curriculum page.

3. Click Complete Registration at the bottom of the page.

4. Click Finalize Registration on the next screen.

5. Under Trinity College Courses on the next screen, click on the training module that you must complete.

In-Person Training

Each academic year, Principal Investigators will be contacted by Trinity College Environmental Health and Safety for in-person trainings as needed, including in blood-borne pathogen training, chemical hygiene safety, and biomedical waste management.

Trinity College IBC Members

Michael Puljung, Ph.D., Chair
Neuroscience Program and Department of Chemistry

Myles Samba-Green, Ex Oficio
Environmental Health and Safety Manager for Trinity College
Triumvirate Environmental

Jonathan Ashby, Ph.D., Lab Expert
Department of Chemistry

Lisa-Anne Foster, Ph.D., Microbiology/Animal Expert
Department of Biology

Claire Fournier, Ph.D., Lab Expert
Department of Biology

Eric Hammerling, Local Non-Affiliated
Director, Office of Environmental Review and Strategic Initiatives
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Nikisha Patel, Ph.D., Plant Expert
Department of Biology

David Ruskin, Ph.D., IACUC Liaison/Animal Expert
Neuroscience Program and Department of Psychology

Nicole Russo, Grants Office Liaison, Ex Oficio
Grants Coordinator

Bruce Wittchen, Local Non-Affiliated
Environmental Analyst
Intergovernmental Policy and Planning Division
Office of Policy and Management

Sarah Raskin, PhD., Ex Oficio
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program
Associate Dean for Faculty Development

If you have any questions about the Institutional Biosafety Committee, please contact Michael Puljung at [email protected].