Skip to content

Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

The UC Merced IBC has been established to comply with the membership, procedure, and function requirements of Section IV-B-2 of the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules.  

Responsibilities

Use of biological materials is subject to oversight by the IBC to ensure regulations, guidelines, and safe practices are followed to eliminate or reduce risk of exposure to acceptable levels and comply with NIH Guidelines.  This essential oversight occurs through review and approval of Biological Use Authorizations (BUAs) submitted by Principal Investigators prior to initiation of research.  Other IBC responsibilities are to create and enforce policies and procedures regarding the use of biohazardous materials and monitor construction and use of biohazard containment facilities.

UC Merced IBC Handbook

BUA Submission Deadline and IBC Meeting Dates

BUA Submission Deadline IBC Meeting Date
June 30, 2023 July 28, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
July 21, 2023 August 31, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
August 18, 2023 September 28, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
September 15, 2023 October 26, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
October 20, 2023 November 30, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
November 17, 2023 December 21, 2023; 2 PM - 3 PM
December 18, 2023 January 25, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
January 19, 2024 February 29, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
February 16, 2024 March 28, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
March 15, 2024 April 25, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
April 19, 2024 May 30, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
May 17, 2024 June 27, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
June 14, 2024 July 25, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM
July 19, 2024 August 29, 2024; 2 PM - 3 PM

* Dates marked with a "*" are subject to change due to holidays.

When possible and consistent with protection of privacy and proprietary interests, the Institutional Biosafety Committee meetings are open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please contact biosafety@ucmerced.edu for more information.

Committee Composition

Voting members:

Committee Chairs:

Chair: Andy LiWang - Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of California, Merced

UC Merced Members:

Vanessa Cook - Campus Biosafety Officer, University of California, Merced
Mal Donohue - Director of Environmental Health & Safety, University of California, Merced
Xuecai Ge - Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Merced (on sebattical for the Fall of 2023)
David Gravano - Technical Director of Cytometry, Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry (SCIF) Core Facility, University of California, Merced
Andrea Joyce - Assistant Professor, Entomology Public Health, University of California, Merced
Patrick Sharp - Attending Staff Veterinarian, University of California, Merced
Ayo Adebiyi - Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner

Community Members:

Mike Cuchna - Merced College Vice President of Technology and Institutional Research, Retired
Doug Kain - Dean of Instruction, Area 1: Science, Math, Engineering, Merced College

Ex officio, non-voting members:

Kaylee Chang - IBC Coordinator, University of California, Merced
Chou Her - Executive Director & Chief of Police, University of California, Merced
Laura Rodriguez-Mascorro - Emergency Manager, University of California, Merced
 
 
Agendas and Meeting Minutes

The monthly IBC meeting agenda is distributed to the committee approximately seven days before the meeting date. The draft minutes from the previous month are distributed on the same date. The IBC minutes with proprietary or sensitive information redacted are available on request to members of the public. Please reach out to biosafety@ucmerced.edu with any questions.