To aid in Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) review of research involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids (rDNA), an update has been made to the “Inserts, Vectors, & Hosts” table template. The update added a new column, which asks the registrant to answer the question “Does the recombinant product contain more than 2/3 of the genome of a eukaryotic virus?” for each insert/vector combination. The updated template also includes new example rows.
The updated template can be found on the EHS rDNA webpage under the “Resources” header. A link to the template is also available in the “Attachments” section of the eIBC rDNA registration document (rDNARD). EHS biosafety staff will help researchers transition their table to this new template during the rDNARD submission process. Amendments submitted for currently approved rDNARDs will be transitioned to the new table format on a case-by-case basis.
Please send questions about these updates to EHS biosafety staff at ehs-rdna@uiowa.edu.