/Office for Research and Innovation
Research Compliance

Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)

Oversight

The Institutional Review Entity (IRE) reviews research involving one or more select agents. SBU's oversight of DURC is aimed at preserving the benefits of life sciences research while minimizing the risk of misuse of the knowledge, information, products, or technologies provided by such research.

 

 

Dual Use Research of Concern Submissions

The application should be submitted in myResearch Safety.

You must complete this form and upload it into myResearch Safety under Supporting Documents.

Meeting Date:  
Meetings are held the fourth Tuesday of the month.

Deadline for Materials: 
Materials are due by the 15th of the month.

DURC IRE Standard Operating Procedures (updated 11/14/2024 )

Prior to commencing with any activity involving agents of concern, Investigators must:

Contact the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) to obtain the necessary approvals for access to Biological Select Agents and Toxins (BSAT). 

Await outcome of review from the IRE regarding applicability of the research as it pertains to this policy.  If the IRE determines that the research constitutes DURC, and is subject to this Policy:  Do not commence with the research until an approved risk mitigation plan is in place. 

Once an approved risk mitigation plan is in place, and the IRE approves the research to commence, the investigator must conduct and/or communicate the research in accordance with the provisions of the risk mitigation plan.

Name 

Department

Nicholas Carpino, Chair

Microbiology and Immunology

Jeronimo Cello

Microbiology and Immunology

Hwan Kim

Microbiology and Immunology

Christopher Kuhlow

Environmental Health and Safety

Jorge Escobar

 Environmental Health and Safety

Rachel Brownlee

Division of Laboratory Animal Resources

Dafang Faith Wang

Plant specialist

Erin Augello

Executive Secretary, non-voting member

What is Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)? 

DURC is life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, material, or national security.
What Agents and Toxins are subject to the DURC policy? 

 Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic), Bacillus anthracis, Botulinum neurotoxin (in any quantity), Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Ebola virus, Foot-and-mouth disease virus, Francisella tularensis, Marburg virus, Reconstructed 1918 influenza virus, Rinderpest virus, Toxin-producing strains of Clostridium botulinum, Variola major virus, Variola minor virus, Yersinia pestis

Strains of above considered to be ‘attenuated’ and appearing on the Select Agents and Toxins Exclusions List are not subject to this policy , unless the research in question proposes any manipulation that restores or enhances its virulence or toxic activity.
What are Experiments of Concern?

 Experiments of Concern Use of Agents and Toxins subject to this policy in research that involves:

  • Enhances the harmful consequences of the agent or toxin
  • Disrupts immunity or the effectiveness of an immunization against the agent or toxin without clinical and/or agricultural justification
  • Confers to the agent or toxin resistance to clinically and/or agriculturally useful prophylactic or therapeutic interventions against that agent or toxin or facilitates their ability to evade detection methodologies
  • Increases the stability, transmissibility, or the ability to disseminate the agent or toxin
  • Alters the host range or tropism of the agent or toxin
  • Enhances the susceptibility of a host population to the agent or toxin or
  • Generates or reconstitutes an eradicated or extinct agent or toxin subject to this policy
What is Life Science Research? 

Life Science Research is the study of living organisms (e.g., microbes, human beings, animals, and plants) and their products, including all disciplines and methodologies of biology such as aerobiology, agricultural science, plant science, animal science, bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, microbiology, synthetic biology, virology, molecular biology, environmental science, public health, modeling, engineering of living systems, and all applications of the biological sciences. The term is meant to encompass the diverse approaches to understanding life at the level of ecosystems, populations, organisms, organs, tissues, cells, and molecules.