- In 2014 the United States government released a policy for institutional oversight of life sciences dual use research of concern.
- Dual use research of concern (DURC) is life sciences research that can be anticipated to provide knowledge, products or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat to public health, agriculture, the environment or national security.
- The Institutional Review Entity (IRE) is the university committee which provides oversight for DURC.
- If you plan to work with any of the 15 agents covering any of the 7 experimental categories, please reach out to the Institutional Contact for Dual Use Research (ICDUR).
Standards & Regulations
15 Agents of DURC
- Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic)
- Bacillus anthracis
- Botulinum neurotoxin (any quantity)
- Burkholderia mallei
- Burkholdeia pseudomallei
- Ebola virus
- Foot-and-mouth disease virus
- Francisella tularensis
- Marburg virus
- Reconstructed 1918 influenza virus
- Rinderpest virus
- Clostridium botulinum
- variola major virus
- variola minor virus
- Yersinia pestis
7 Experimental Categories of DURC
- Enhances the harmful consequences of the agent or toxin.
- Disrupts the immunity or the effectiveness of an immunization against the agent/toxin without clinical/agricultural justification.
- Confers to the agent/toxin resistance to clinically/agriculturally useful prophylactic or therapeutic interventions or facilitates their ability to evade detection methodologies.
- Increases the stability, transmissibility or the ability to disseminate the agent/toxin.
- Alters the host range.
- Enhances the susceptibility of a host population.
- Generates/reconstitutes an eradicated or extinct agent/toxin.
IRE Members
The IRE committee is composed of the Institutional Biosafety Committee technical experts, the Director of Research Compliance and the Institutional Contact for Dual Use Research (ICDUR) who is also the EH&S Biosafety Officer.