Revised NIH Recombinant DNA Guidelines Now Cover Synthetically Derived Molecules

Nucleic acids created solely by synthetic means will be covered by National Institutes of Health guidelines on research using recombinant DNA under final revisions announced in a Sept. 5 Federal Register notice, but the new guidelines will not expand review of studies involving the deliberate introduction of drug resistance into microorganisms, as had been proposed (77 Fed. Reg. 54,584).

With this revision, NIH took final action on a process that began in March 2009, when the agency proposed to update the NIH guidelines on research using recombinant DNA (74 Fed. Reg. 9411, 3/4/09) ( ...