Biological Safety
Biological Materials
Summary
How to manage, work with, handle, store, and dispose of biological materials.
Who is this for?
Lab and research staff.
Biological material safety at Harvard
Everyone who works with biological materials at Harvard must follow federal, state, local, and institutional policies and guidelines.
Use these biosafety resources to help assess and control biological hazards, including hazards from recombinant and synthetic nucleic acids, infectious agents, and human materials.
EHS support
Contact biosafety@harvard.edu or your Biosafety Officer (BSO) for more information about biological safety at Harvard, including:
- Animals in labs and related risks.
- Biological agents, including handling and disinfection procedures.
- Biological hazards, including emergency response and managing incidents.
- Biological material permits.
- Biological safety programs, including developing and implementing programs.
- Biological safety training, including developing and delivering training.
- Cold and warm rooms.
- Cryostats and cryovials.
- Cultures, including contamination and decontamination.
- Institutional biological safety committees, including support and compliance.
- Plants in labs.
- Specialized biological containment facilities, including:
- Animal facilities, core labs, greenhouses, high containment facilities, and insectaries.
- Design review for containment facilities.