Biosafety Manual & Supporting Documents
UMass Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) governs and delegates responsibilities through programs, standard operating procedures, and guidelines. This extensive list of resources, as well as related forms and fact sheets can be found in the Academic & Research Safety Document Library.
The Biosafety Manual represents the institutional practices and procedures for the safe use and handling of biological materials, recombinant DNA, and synthetic nucleic acids. This document is based on the latest government regulatory requirements, guidelines, and current professional standards.
For all documents associated with the Biosafety Program, please refer to the Biosafety Document Library.
Biosafety Program
Additional EHS Resources
Online platform for effective lab management, including trainings, documents, and equipment.
Support information for PIs and operational procedures for bringing new labs online.
Exposures, injuries, spills, leaks, and near misses shall be reported immediately.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative
In 1988, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eradicate polio, leading to the establishment of the Global Eradication Initiative (GPEI). As a result of this initiative, polio cases have decreased by more than 99% globally.
UMass Amherst is committed to this initiative, by minimizing the risk related to poliovirus in educational and research facilities subsequent to the eradication of wild polioviruses and the cessation of oral polio vaccine use. Identifying all laboratory samples at risk for containing poliovirus is essential for securing a polio-free world.
Poliovirus (PV) and potentially infectious materials (PIM) include human respiratory secretions, fecal specimens, or untreated environmental surface water samples collected for non-polio related work in a time and place where wild poliovirus (WPV) or vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) was circulating or where oral polio vaccine (OPV) was in use. Historical domestic and international specimens are more likely to fall into these categories.
Additionally, PIM cultured in some common cell lines in order to isolate other viruses of interest may have unintentionally amplified poliovirus, so respiratory or enteric viral isolates obtained from PIM specimens using any of these cell lines are also considered PIM.
Resources: