Office of Biosafety, Biocontainment Operations, and Quality Assurance

The Office of Biosafety at Tulane University was created in 2006 under the Office of the Vice President for Research to support the Tulane research community. In 2019 the office expanded to become the Office of Biosafety, Biocontainment Operations, and Quality Assurance.

With an increased focus on vaccine development and infectious disease studies at the Tulane School of Medicine, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and Tulane National Primate Research Center, as well as the expansion of the Cancer and Gene Therapy Centers, research with biological materials at Tulane is expanding rapidly. The Office of Biosafety strives to support this important and innovative research by addressing challenges associated with it.

We are focused on minimizing the health risk to those involved in research using biohazard materials including recombinant DNA, infectious agents, and biological toxins, and in turn to protect the greater Tulane community, the general public, and the environment.  In order to accomplish this goal we maintain an interactive partnership with principal investigators and laboratory support staff.  In addition, in cooperation with the Institutional Biosafety Committee, Office of Biosafety, Biocontainment Operations, and Quality Assurance is charged with oversight of regulatory compliance at the university with regard to the storage and use of hazardous biological materials.