Institutional Biosafety Committee

2nd Institutional biosafety committee was convened on June 23, 2022 in Biotechnology Unit, A.M.U., Aligarh. A Total of 06 proposal were submitted for review but only 06 were discussed sincerest of them were absent. Committee differed them for next meeting. The recommendations of committee are appended below:

Project 1: “Determine the stemness character of miRNA-367 and mitogenic cell signaling Shh Gli1-BMI1 network as the therapeutic targets for the medulloblastoma initiating stem cells (MISC)”

Candidate name: Mr. Swalih P, Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre (IBRC), F/o Medicine, AMU, Aligarh

Decision: Proposal not approved.  

Proposal was not clear to the student he has not explained anything about project proposal. Committee differed the proposal for the next committee.



Project 2: “Study on the role of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling cascade and its interaction with homeodomain transcription factor Pax6 in brain tumor development”

Candidate name: Ms. Shirin Farheen, Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre (IBRC), F/o Medicine, AMU, Aligarh

Decision: Proposal Approved.

Cell line must be handled with biosafety. Disposal of cell line must be performed as per JNMC guideline. The cell lines were used in AIIMS. All knockdown cell lines must be handled as per the biosafety guidelines.

Project 3: “NOX-2/ROS/SHIP-1/TREM-2 module in Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology: Studies on microglia redox regulation of neuroinflammation, mitochondrial and phagocytic dysfunction, amyloid burden and neurodegeneration”

Candidate name: Dr. Shahnawaz Ali Bhat, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, AMU, Aligarh.

Decision: Proposal approved.

No biosafety issue involved in this project hence general safety measures are recommended. But, if recombinant strains used, must be disposed of following biosafety guidelines.

Project 4: “Studies on the potential role of microglial AT1R/ AKT/ CREB/ Jmjd3 signalling in amelioration of chronic neuroinflammation induced cognitive impairment”

Candidate name: Dr. Shahnawaz Ali Bhat, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, AMU, Aligarh.

Decision: Proposal approved.

No biosafety issue involved in this project hence general safety measures are recommended. But, if recombinant strains used, must be disposed of following biosafety guidelines.

Project 5: “Isolation and characterization of collagen from scales of Indian carps and its effect on inter-regulatory factors of osteoblast and osteoclast proliferation and apoptosis”

Candidate name: Ms. Aiman, Department of Zoology, AMU, Aligarh.

Decision: Proposal approved.

No biosafety issue involved in this project hence general safety measures are recommended.

Project 6: “Synthesizing recombinant antigenic protein which can be used to fight against bacteria causing lung infections”

Candidate name: Mr. Mohd Saad, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU, Aligarh.

Decision: Proposal approved.

It was approved with the comments that all recombinant strains must be autoclaved and buried deep into the soil in order to be disposed.

Ist Institutional biosafety committee was convened on January 16, 2021 in Biotechnology Unit, A.M.U., Aligarh. A total of 22 proposal were submitted for review but only 16 were discussed since rest of them were absent. Committee differed them for next meeting. The recommendations of committee are appended below:

Project 1: CRISPR mediated genome editing in bacterial cells

Candidate name: Mohd Waqar Azam, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision: It was approved with the comments that all recombinant strains including CRlSPRi edited bacterial strains must be autoclaved and buried deep into the soil
in order to be disposed.

Project 2: A mechanistic approach to understand the biology of Streptococcus mutans biofilm

Candidate name: Sahar Zaidi, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU                                  

Decision: The project was approved and suggested that all Knock out strains and recombinant strains were disposed of through autoclaving followed by burying deep into the soil.

Project 3: Screening and designing inhibitors against different classes of β-lactamases

Candidate name: Nabeela Farhat, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision:It was approved with the comment, all recombinant strains were disposed of deep into soil after autoclaving.

Project 4: Studies on the spread of Antimicrobial resistance in environment and hospital settings.

Candidate name: Shamsi Khalid, interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision: Since NO pathogenic strains are included in project therefore general safety parameters must be considered. But all work must be performed in BSL1 facility. The used culture/  plates must be autoclaved before disposed of. The same must be buried deep in soil.

Project 5: Photodynamic therapy mediated suppression of topical bacterial infection

Candidate name: Farheen Akhtar, interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision: Since NO pathogenic strains or recombinant strains are included in project therefore general safety parameters must be considered. Animal study involved need prior approval from animal ethical committee. While Use of laser light precautions must be taken.

Project 6: Metagenomics of Sewage water microbiome to study Antimicrobial Resistance

Candidate name: Absar Talat, interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision: Since NO humanI animal samples or recombinant strains are included in project therefore general safety parameters must be considered. Most of the work is based on metagenomics data as analysis using software. Handling of sewage water sample must be performed with all general safety precautions.

Project 7: Molecular mechanism of biofilm in clinically relevant bacteria

Candidate name: Ayesha Zainab Beg, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, AMU

Decision: All the recombinant strains are included in project must be disposed of after autoclaving buried into the deep soil. rest of the safety parameter are general.

Project 8: Chemosensitization of Chemoresistant Cancer Cells of Solid Tumors

Candidate Name: Dr Hifzur R Siddique, Department of Zoology, AMU. Aligarh.

Decision: All hazardous chemicals/ mutagens and rDNA strains/ cell lines must be properly disposed.

Liquid chemical should not be washed openly. All material autoclaved and buried deep into the soil.

Project 9: To study the role of G-Quadruplex (G4) structures in activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID)-dependent genomic instability

Candidate Name: Afzal Husain, Biochemistry, F/o Life Sciences

Decision: lt was approved with the comments that all recombinant strains including CRlSPRi edited bacterial strains/ cell lines must be autoclaved and buried deep into the soil in order to disposed. 
No pathogen strains are in use in this project.

Project 10: Comparinson of molecular heterogenecity of HBV patients with those co-infected with HIV: Does immune suppression have a role in increased pathogenicity?

Candidate name: Dr. Hiba Sami Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology, JNMCH

Decision: No biosafety issue involved in this project hence general safety measures are recommended.