Meeting Location:

Clinical and Translational Research Building, streaming for virtual attendees 505 S Hancock St, Louisville, KY 40202 Meeting room numbers: 1st floor; CTR101, CTR102 Link to building information: https://louisville.edu/predictivemedicine/about/contact Map link: http://tinyurl.com/f7mued4r

Registration:

• Registration will be open from 8am on Monday, Symposium registration at 12:30pm

Parking:

• Metered parking is available in front of building.
• Security will let you in the front door. An entrance to public parking in the garage adjacent to the building is off Clay Street, immediately behind CTRB.

Dinner social

Location: Bourbon Barrel Loft (https://www.bbcbrew.com/bourbon-barrel-loft ) 300 W Main St, Louisville, KY 40202 Corner of 3rd Street and Main (catty-corner from Yum Center) Directions from AC Hotel to Bourbon Barrel Loft: https://tinyurl.com/66n9wzr8 Buffet Dinner and 2 drink tickets included in symposium registration.  

Draft Symposium Agenda

Making the NIH Guidelines Make Sense

Categorization of biological research with recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids using the NIH guidelines as part of the risk assessment is required at institutions that receive public funding through the NIH. Understanding the origins and maintenance of the NIH guidelines can provide clarity on why the guidelines were written in the generalized language in which they are currently published. This presentation will have four sections. The first section will address how the NIH guidelines were established and the advances in molecular biology that led to their establishment. The second section will address how the NIH guidelines are amended and the groups that have historically requested these amendments. The third section will focus in on the K-12 E. coli host vector system (III-F-8, appendix C-II) exemption. The fourth section will explain the process for requesting an exemption to containment requirements for recombinant work and describe one institution’s experience with this process. There will be opportunities for questions about the NIH guidelines and benchmarking between institutions.

Instructor: Brandy Nelson, Andrew Houppert, and Kara Sarchet

Brandy Nelson is the University of Kentucky’s Institutional Biosafety Officer.  In this role, Brandy serves as a member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee, the Institutional Contact for Dual Use Research, and the manager of the Department of Biological Safety.    She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics.  Her professional organization activity includes Co-Team Lead for the ABSA International Education & Curriculum Task Force, MABioN Past-President, and SEBSA President-Elect.  Brandy is an ABSA International Certified Biosafety Professional and a National Registry of Microbiologists Specialist in Microbiology.  She holds BA and MS degrees in Biology from Transylvania University and Eastern Kentucky University, respectively.  Brandy has worked in the field of biosafety for 15 years both at UK and the University of Louisville.  Prior to her work in biosafety she spent many years working at the bench in academic and commercial biomedical research laboratories. Dr. Andrew Houppert is currently the Biological Safety Manager at IUPUI.  Andrew earned both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Microbiology from Indiana University Bloomington.  Andrew received his CBSP from ABSA in 2019.  Andrew served as the RO for IUPUI’s select agent program from 2017-2020. During graduate school, Andrew served as an instructor for numerous Microbiology lab and lecture courses. Andrew is passionate about bacteria and enjoys teaching others about them. Dr. Kara Sarchet is currently ABSO at IUPUI. Kara has a B.S. in Chemistry from Ball State University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from Washington University in St. Louis. Kara went on to postdoc at IUPUI and also has industry experience in cell manufacturing and corporate biosafety. Working full time in biosafety for the last six years, Kara gave the MABioN pre-conference course in 2019 on the risk assessment of viral vectors. Kara serves on four IBCs and enjoys the risk assessment and NIH categorization of new and innovative work.