The NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant and Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules governs research with regard to these substances. The Biosafety Program oversees this research. Specifically, the Administrative Panel on Biosafety (APB) reviews and approves all projects deemed non-exempt by the NIH (APB approval isn’t necessary for experiments in exempt categories).

A synopsis of non-exempt experiments for Stanford researchers can be found here. A policy for researchers using genome editing (including Crispr/Cas9) and gene drives, based on the NIH Guidelines, has been developed for Stanford and is found here.

It is the responsibility of all Stanford personnel to report any exposures or unauthorized research using biohazardous agents and/or recombinant and synthetic nucleic acid material to the Biosafety Manager (esegal@stanford.edu, (650) 725-1473). Initial reporting must be done at the earliest time possible, and within 24 hrs of the incident; a more detailed report is to be submitted within 10 days. See the Report of Incident Involving Recombinant DNA for additional information.