The Administrative Panels on Research Compliance assure the institution’s compliance with federal, state and local regulation of research and teaching activities by reviewing those activities which involve the use of human subjects, laboratory animals, biohazardous agents, recombinant DNA, or radiological hazards. In addition, the Administrative Panels are responsible for assessing current research policy and helping formulate new policy governing the conduct of research and training at Stanford with respect to the subjects or agents under the jurisdiction of each panel.

Important Information

APB Oversight

Biohazardous materials include any organism that can cause disease in humans, or cause significant environmental or agricultural impact, such as:

  • Bacteria
  • Viruses
  • Parasites
  • Prions and Prion-like proteins
  • Fungi
  • Human or primate tissues, fluids, cells, or cell cultures/lines that are known to or are likely to contain infectious organisms
  • Human or animal tissues, fluids, cells, or cell cultures/ lines that have been exposed to infectious organisms
  • Animals known to be reservoirs of zoonotic diseases

The Biosafety programs oversees the use of the recombinant and synthetic nucleic acid molecules. This includes:

  • Recombinant and synthetic nucleic acid molecules
  • Transgenic animals
  • Trangenic plants
  • Human gene transfer or studies using recombinant DNA

Administrative Panel on Biosafety (APB)

The NIH has mandated the presence of an Institutional Biosafety Committee for all organizations that come under NIH regulations.
At Stanford University, the Administrative Panel on Biosafety (APB) is an established Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) that reviews projects involving infectious agents, recombinant DNA (rDNA), and synthetic nucleic acid molecules (sNA). APB approval is required for all work that uses biological agents classified as BSL – 2 or above, or rDNA classified as non-exempt by the NIH. Per NIH guidelines (https://osp.od.nih.gov/policies/biosafety-and-biosecurity-policy#tab2/) and the Stanford University Administrative Panel on Biosafety Charge (see below) the APB also requires researchers to have an approved APB protocol and follow specific guidelines for working with prions and prion-like proteins; additional information can be found in Chapter 4.

Stanford University policy (stanford.io/3ZXk1dJ) additionally states that:

All research personnel using BSL 2 or 3 biohazardous agents must be appropriately trained and familiar with the safety procedures in handling these materials. The PI/Laboratory Director is responsible for training and ensuring that all biohazardous agents are used at the appropriate level of biological containment.

APB approval is not required for experiments which involve the use of BSL 1 agents exclusively (without the use of recombinant DNA molecules). However, any investigator working with human blood, clinical specimens, human tissues/tissue culture, or other potentially infectious materials must still meet the compliance requirements of the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard.