As you may know, the Office of Research Integrity Assurance (ORIA) is no longer under the GTRC/GTARC organization, but is now included in the EVPR office. If you are sending email to associates in ORIA, and you are using the GTRI/GTRC mail system, you may find that your messages are not delivered. This is likely due to your mail client cache. If you experience bounced messages when sending to ORIA emails, please clear your auto-complete cache in your local Outlook client (e.g. https://its.unl.edu/emailhome/clear-e-mail-cache). After clearing your cache - resend the message. If you still receive a bounce back or if you do not hear back from ORIA, please contact us via phone or Teams to make sure your message was received.
The Office of Research Integrity Assurance (ORIA) has migrated all existing IBC Protocols to the Topaz system, the same system already being used to process animal care and use protocols (IACUC).
To apply for Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) review, please submit a Biosafety Protocol application in the Topaz system. If you are unable to access the system, please contact the Office of Research Integrity Assurance (ORIA) IBC staff for assistance.
The committee generally meets monthly to review protocol applications. We recommend that researchers submit protocol applications up to 3 months in advance of the expected project start date to allow enough time for the completion the multi-phase review process. Your registration must include the following:
1. Completed current Biological Risk Assessment for your lab
2. A statement of work or project description from each related grant application.
The application must be approved by the department head. ORIA will route the application to the department head for you in the TOPAZ system. When the department chair is the Principal Investigator (PI) named in the protocol, no other approval is required.
ORIA will provide a preliminary review and then route the application to the GT Biosafety Officer for their specialized review. If modifications are required, the PI should revise the protocol in accordance with the combined ORIA Biosafety Officer preliminary consultations and resubmit the revised protocol in Topaz for distribution to the full Institutional Biosafety Committee.
