Institutional Biosafety Committee Minutes

Oklahoma State University - Center for Health Sciences Institutional Biosafety Committee Hybrid Meeting minutes from Thursday July 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM

IBC Members Present

• Dr. Crystal (Niki) Johnson: Committee Chair - Present
• Dr. I-Hsiu (George) Huang:  Scientific Member - Present
• Dr. Sue Katz Amburn:  Scientific Member - Present
• Dr. Gerwald Koehler: Scientific Member - Present
• William (BJ) Reddig: Lab representative - Present
• Dr. David Wallace: Animal Expert - Present
• Dr. Fang (Fiona) Liu: Non-affiliated member - Absent
• Jennifer Nangle: Non-affiliated Member - Absent
• Dr. Vikram Gujar: Alternate Member - Affiliated Scientist - Absent

Quorum: Quorum is met. The IBC has six (6) voting members present, and four (4) voting members are required to conduct business.

Others in Attendance

• Amber Hood: Oklahoma State University - Center for Health Sciences - Director Regulatory Compliance & Research Facilities
• Rebecca Crandell: Oklahoma State University - Center for Health Sciences - Assistant Director Research Compliance

Minutes

1. Call to Order
   • The IBC Chair called this meeting to order at 10:01am.
     1. Conflicts of Interest
        • The IBC Chair asked all members present to identify any conflicts of interest with the materials that are to be reviewed.
        • Dr. Johnson and BJ Reddig noted that they have a conflict of interest with voting on IBC 00001255, and will recuse themselves for the discussion and vote of this protocol.
     2. Discussion of previous minutes
        • No discussion was held regarding the June 2026 IBC meeting minutes. Dr. Wallace motioned to approve them as written, and BJ Reddig seconded. All members present were in favor of the motion.
     3. Review and Approval of previous meeting minutes
        • Date of previous meeting: Thursday, June 18 2026
        • Motion: Approve as Written
        • Votes:
          • For - 5
          • Against - 0
          • Abstain - 0
2. Review of Prior Business
   • Business: Report of pending/outstanding protocol(s)
   • Review and Discussion: None
3. New IBC Registrations and Amendments for Review
   1. Review of IBC-00001262
      • PI Name(s): Dr. Swarup Mitra
      • Registration Title/Number
        • Understanding the role of Ralgapb and Naa15 in driving oligodendroglial plasticity
        • IBC-00001262
      • Project Overview:
        • Early-life stress (ELS) increases the risk of mental health disorders during adolescence, but the brain mechanisms that link these experiences to later behavioral changes remain poorly understood. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), a type of brain support cell that helps shape neural development, are highly sensitive to stress, yet their role in behavioral adaptations following ELS is largely unknown. This project will investigate how the stress-responsive gene Ralgapb and Naa15 regulate primary OPC signaling and plasticity. To accomplish these aims, OliNeu cells and primary OPCs isolated from naïve and ELS-exposed rat pups will be transduced with replication-defective lentiviral vectors carrying wild-type or mutant Ralgapb or Naa15 constructs. Cells will subsequently be processed for molecular and immunocytochemical analyses.
      • NIH Guidelines Section
        • The work was determined to be subject to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules and was classified under Section III-F-2, with applicable Appendix C-I and Appendix C-II exemptions for tissue culture experiments and E. coli K-12 host-vector systems.
      • Risk Assessment
        • Risk Assessment: Generation of Splashes possible; possible sprays/aerosols from centrifugation
      • Discussion
        • Revise the protocol to include a detailed biological risk assessment for the plasmid and constructs, define all acronyms in Overview & Scientific Aims section, clarify the use of lab space, include lentiviral constructs in lab specific biosafety plan, and identify funding source.
      • Training
        • All personnel listed on this application have completed the minimum required lab safety training courses, including Lab Chemical safety, Bloodborne Pathogens training, and Laboratory Biosafety training. Additionally, all personnel have documented in-lab training for specific procedures that are carried out in each individual lab.
      • Additional Training
        • No additional training was outlined for this application.
      • Occupational Health Respresentative Review (if applicable)
        • No additional occupational health concerns were outlined for this protocol.
      • Biosafety Level Assignment
        • Biosafety Level: 2
        • Additional Discussion or notes:  No additional discussion was held regarding the biosafety level.
      • IBC Vote
        • Motion: Table until next meeting; PI revisions requested.
          • 1st: Dr. Wallace
          • 2nd: Dr. Johnson
        • Votes:
          • For - 6
          • Against - 0
          • Abstain - 0
          • Recused - 0
        • Notes:
          • No additional discussion was held regarding the motion.
   2. Review of IBC-00001255
      • PI Name(s): Dr. Crystal Johnson
      • Registration Title/Number
        • Microbiome Modulation of Satiety Hormones in Eukaryotic Cell Lines
        • IBC-00001255
      • Project Overview
        • Microbiome Modulation of Satiety Hormones in Eukaryotic Cell Lines,” is designed to evaluate how microbiomederived materials and/or bacterial culture products influence satiety hormone responses in established eukaryotic cell culture models. The project involves work with non-pathogenic, anaerobic gut-associated microorganisms and/or their sterile-filtered culture supernatants, metabolites, or conditioned media, with experimental outcomes focused on hostcell responses related to enteroendocrine signaling, including satiety-associated hormones such as GLP-1 and PYY. Microbial agents will be handled as Biosafety Level 2 materials when viable organisms are used, due to their human- or animal-associated origin, although the organisms used are not intended to be manipulated as pathogens and are not expected to produce known toxins or virulence factors beyond those documented in available strain information, literature, or genomic annotation. Eukaryotic cell lines used in this protocol are established mammalian cell culture models maintained under standard tissue culture conditions and used only for in vitro exposure assays; no animal work is proposed under this protocol. Experimental manipulations include anaerobic microbial cultivation, preparation of bacterial culture products or conditioned media, sterile filtration or other processing steps as appropriate, mammalian cell culture, exposure of eukaryotic cells to microbiome-derived preparations, and measurement of hostcell responses using standard molecular, biochemical, and/or immunoassay-based techniques. Any nucleic acid analyses performed are limited to characterization or measurement of microbial or host-cell responses, such as PCR, sequencing, or gene expression assays, and are not intended to create recombinant organisms, introduce structural transgenes or oncogenes, produce toxins, or generate replication-competent vectors. Work involving viable microbial cultures and mammalian cell lines will be conducted at Biosafety Level 2 using approved containment practices. This protocol supports mechanistic studies of host–microbiome interactions relevant to metabolic signaling while using established biosafety practices for microbial cultivation and in vitro cell culture.
      • NIH Guidelines Section
        • No NIH Guidelines were noted as applying to this project.
      • Risk Assessment
        • Generation of Splashes possible; possible sprays/aerosols from centrifugation; use of sharps; addition of slurry/bacteria/bacterial culture to a cell culture.
      • Discussion
        • Although marked as risk group 2, it is unclear what the source of the 'mixed fecal community' is. Need clarification. Provide available ATCC and PSDS documents for organisms.
      • Training
        • All personnel listed on this application have completed the minimum required lab safety training courses, including Lab Chemical safety, Bloodborne Pathogens training, and Laboratory Biosafety training. Additionally, all personnel have documented in-lab training for specific procedures that are carried out in each individual lab.
      • Additional Training
        • No additional training was outlined for this application.
      • Occupational Health
        • No additional occupational health concerns were outlined for this protocol.
      • Biosafety Level Assignment
        • Biosafety Level: 2
        • Additional Discussion or notes:  No additional discussion was held regarding the biosafety level.
      • IBC Vote
        • Motion: Require Modifications to Secure Approval, with designated member review.
          • 1st: Dr. Wallace
          • 2nd: Dr. Katz
        • Votes:
          • For - 4
          • Against - 0
          • Abstain - 0
          • Recused - 0
        • Notes:
          • No additional discussion was held regarding the motion. Dr. Johnson and BJ Reddig were recused for the vote as they had a conflict of interest with this application.
4. New Business
   1. Research Office job opening.
      • There is a job opening in the Office of Research for a Research Compliance Coordinator, who will help run the meetings in the future.
5. Additional/Other Business
   1. Notice of protocol approval since last meeting
      • Since the previous meeting, one protocol was approved after the pending revisions were completed and reviewed by DMR: Dr. Johnson's protocol #1261.
6. Review of Incidents
   • No incidents were discussed at this meeting.
7. Inspections/Ongoing Oversight
   • No inspections or ongoing oversight were discussed at this meeting.
8. IBC Training
   • At this meeting, Dr. Johnson provided some education about BMBL 6th edition: https://www.cdc.gov/labs/bmbl/index.html
9. Public Comments
   • No public comments were recorded at this meeting.
10. Adjournment
    • The IBC Chair moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:32am.
    • The next IBC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 20 2026.