1. Compliance
  2. Research Laboratory & Safety Services
  3. Biosafety Program

The Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) program

DURC is defined by the U.S. Government as:

“life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, material, or national security.”

DUR vs DURC

 

The “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern,” issued in 2012, requires federal funding agencies to review research, identify projects and proposals that qualify as DURC, and verify that appropriate risk-reducing measures are in place.

The “United States Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences DURC,” issued in 2014, explains the institutional-level policies, practices, and procedures for the identification and risk mitigation of DURC.

Under DURC policies, research that involves one of the following 15 agents or toxins and produces/is anticipated to produce one of the following 7 experimental effects requires DURC review.

  Agents/Toxins

1

Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic)

2

Bacillus anthracis

3

Botulinum neurotoxin

4

Burkholderia mallei

5

Burkholderia pseudomallei

6

Ebola virus

7

 Foot-and-mouth disease virus

8

 Francisella tularensis

9

 Marburg virus

10

 Reconstructed 1918 influenza virus

11

 Rinderpest virus

12

 Toxin-producing strains of Clostridium botulinum

13

 Variola major virus

14

 Variola minor virus
15 Yersinia pestis
   
  Experimental Effects
1

Enhances harmful consequences of the agent or toxin
2

Disrupts immunity or the effectiveness of an immunization against the agent or toxin without clinical and/or agricultural justification
3

Confers to the agent/toxin resistance to clinically or agriculturally useful prophylactic or therapeutic interventions against that agent/toxin, or facilitates their ability to evade detection methodologies
4

Increases the stability, transmissibility, or the ability to disseminate the agent or toxin
5

Alters the host range or tropism (ability to productively infect) of the agent or toxin
6

Enhances the susceptibility of a host population to the agent or toxin
7

Generates or reconstitutes an eradicated or extinct listed agent or toxin

 

  

 

In addition to these agents/toxins and experiment categories, institutions have the ability to use their discretion to determine if other types of life sciences constitute DURC.

DURC at the University of Arizona

If a PI is conducting research that involves one or more of the 15 select agents or toxins or may produce one or more of the 7 experimental effects, then they must complete the DURC Review Application Form (below) and email it to rlss-bio-support@email.arizona.edu. The following process will ensue.

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Compliance with federal DURC policies is imperative. Lack of compliance may result in the loss or suspension of federal funding for the research in question and loss of future funding opportunities for life sciences research at the University of Arizona.

File DURC Review Application Form .docx

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