Office of Biological Safety
Phone: (608)263-2037 biosafety@fpm.wisc.edu
FAX: (608)265-9059
The UW-Madison Office of Biological Safety (OBS) assists all faculty and staff in observing safe biomedical laboratory practices as prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and endeavors to assure that research is done in secure facilities in compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations. The OBS is the administrative office of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).
OBS NEWS
IMPORTANT Message from Dr. William Mellon:
If you do ANY BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH and have a biosafety protocol please read:
The Select Agent list was recently revised. We have until December 4, 2012 to find any outstanding samples for all Select Agents on campus.
There were several agents added to the list, including SARS-associated coronavirus, Chapare virus and Lujo virus. These viruses are now considered Select Agents.
The penalty for not registering or destroying Select Agent samples, even archived samples, by December 4th would be severe to the PI with the sample in his/her possession, whether they are aware of it or not, other researchers on campus, to University administrators, and to the institution as a whole.
Please make a concerted effort before December 4th to check your freezer inventories, including your archived samples, for SARS, Chapare, and Lujo virus and anything else that appears on the Select Agent list:
In addition, the CDC/APHIS is also regulating nucleic acids capable of producing infectious forms of any of the viruses or functional forms of toxins (including recombinant) for all agents that are on the Select Agent List. Nucleic acids meeting one of these criteria will be considered selects agents as well and must be destroyed or registered.
Report any of the above findings of a potential Select Agent (protein or nucleic acid) immediately to Rebecca Moritz: rmoritz@fpm.wisc.edu.
Thanks for your time and attention to this very important matter,
Dr. William Mellon
Biosafety 102 course changing name to Occupational Health 102
Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP) in the Laboratory Biosafety 102 course, developed jointly by the Occupational Health and Biological Safety offices will undergo a name change in the coming weeks. The BBP program is administered by the Occ Health office and relevant courses should have the Occ Health designation instead of Biosafety. While we transition materials, the course will be called Biosafety-Occupational Health 102 on a temporary basis. Please contact our office if you have any questions regarding the course name change.
Bio HazMat Shipping Course Reference Packet Updated
The Biosafety 205 & 207 Reference Packet download has been updated! Go to the Biosafety 205 or 206 course page on Learn@UW to download the most up-to-date and complete reference packet available from OBS.
Export Control Regulations for Biological Agents
The UW-Madison Export Control Program provides policy information and training to comply with regulations regarding the export of biological materials.
Prepared by the UW-Madison Export Control Officer, the OBS recommends that ANY UW personnel exporting biologicals review the policy information located on the program page.
Notice regarding email messages sent to OBS
Our email anti-spam software sometimes blocks email messages from unrecognized senders. If you did not receive a response to an email you have recently sent, please call us to verify receipt: 608-263-2037. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you.
