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Institutional Biosafety Committee Minutes for March 12, 2026

Institutional Biosafety Committee Minutes for March 12, 2026

A meeting of Southern Research’s Institutional Biosafety Committee convened on Thursday,
12 March 2026, in Birmingham, Alabama.
The following participants were present:

Rebecca Boohaker (via Teams), Voting Participant
Kayton Cherry, Voting Participant
Lamar Jones, Voting Participant
Steven Orr, Voting Participant
La’Wanda Parker, Voting Participant
Carson Sakamoto, Non-voting alternate
James Toomey, Voting Participant
Thorsten Demberg, Visitor
Miranda Nebane, Visitor

Sanjay Sarkar, Visitor

Christina Humphries, Ex-Officio

Review and Approval of Meeting Agenda

The Chairperson called the meeting to order. The Chairperson asked the committee to
review the agenda. A motion was made to approve. A second was made and by voice vote
the agenda was approved as corrected.

  1. Review and Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
  • 12 February 2026 – A motion was made to approve. A second was made, and by
    voice voting the minutes were approved.
  • 26 February 2026 – A motion was made to approve. A second was made, and by
    voice voting the minutes were approved.
  1. New Business
  • BSO Notes/OSP Reportable Incidents Report – None to report.
  1. Review and Approval of BPRs and Amendments
    R24-03-007NS, Amendment 11
    Title: Core Non-Infectious HTS Assays
    RS: Miranda Nebane-Ngwa
    IBC reviewed, no comments or contingencies were received. A motion was made to
    approve as submitted, a second was made, and by voice vote the BPR amendment was
    approved.
  • Agent Name: human FGFR4 and PLC-γ cDNA Inserts
    INSTITUTIONAL BIOSAFETY COMMITTEE
    Minutes, Page 2 of 3
  • Agent Characteristics: No change from core
  • Containment Conditions: BSL-2
  • Sources of the Inserted DNA Sequences: commercially supplied
  • Foreign Gene Expression: Hek293t cells express fusion protein
  • Protein Expressed: fusion proteins
  • Applicable Section(s) of the NIH Guidelines: Section III D 3
  • Types of Manipulations Planned: Same as Core
    R25-03-007SA, Amendment 1
    Title: Efficacy of a Candidate Monkeypox mRNA Vaccine in the Intratracheal Monkeypox
    Challenge Model in Cynomolgus Macaques (GLP)
    RS: Sanjay Sarkar
    IBC reviewed, no comments or contingencies were received. A motion was made to
    approve as submitted, a second was made, and by voice vote the BPR amendment was
    approved.
  • Agent Name: Monkeypox virus (challenge materials); monkeypox mRNA candidate
    vaccine – BNT-166a
  • Agent Characteristics: mRNA candidate vaccine
  • Containment Conditions: A/BSL-2, A/BSL-3
  • Sources of the Inserted DNA Sequences: Sponsor-provided
  • Foreign Gene Expression: A35, B6, M1, and H3 of Monkeypox virus
  • Protein Expressed: Mpox proteins
  • Applicable Section(s) of the NIH Guidelines: Section III-D-4
  • Types of Manipulations Planned: Using lethal challenge dose of MPXV with candidate
    vaccine in NHPs to see the reproducibility of the efficacy work
    R26-02-001NS, Amendment 1
    Title: Pilot Study of Mucosal Influenza Vaccines in Mice
    RS: Thorsten Demberg
    IBC reviewed, no comments or contingencies were received. A motion was made to approve
    as corrected, a second was made, and by voice vote the BPR amendment was approved.
  • Agent Name: T7 phage vaccines
  • Agent Characteristics: For this study, the T7 phages are engineered to display two
    different proteins on their capsid.
  • Containment Conditions: A/BSL-2
  • Sources of the Inserted DNA Sequences: Sponsor provided.
  • Foreign Gene Expression: n/a
  • Protein Expressed: One is an influenza specific antigen, which is the part of the virus
    the immune system should make the immune response against. The second is a
    targeting peptide that binds to special cells called M cells.
  • Applicable Section(s) of the NIH Guidelines: Section III-D-2, Section III-D-7, and
    Section III-D-4.
    Types of Manipulations Planned: In this study, the T7 phage vaccine will be given
    intranasal to trigger a strong immune response both locally (at the mucosal site) and
    throughout the body.
    INSTITUTIONAL BIOSAFETY COMMITTEE
    Minutes, Page 3 of 3
    BPR Amendments Approved Via Biosafety Officer Review:
    None
  1. Next Meeting
    The next Institutional Biosafety Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 09 April 2026
    at 11:15 a.m. in Birmingham.
  2. Adjourn