The College owns a large sub-zero (-80^o) freezer located in room 12C NB.  The sub-zero freezer is kept locked and is connected to an alarm system that notifies CON Faculty in the event of a power outage or machine malfunction.  The system automatically contacts a list of people in the CON who can then access appropriate assistance.

Access to this freezer is available to all faculty who collect bodily fluids as a part of their research and need to store the same for extended periods of time.  Faculty are responsible for providing the necessary storage trays/receptacles to hold their specimens.

Once a need for access to the room and freezer is identified, faculty should contact the ONR (Nancy Goldsmith) who will arrange for keys to the room and freezer.   All faculty who have access to the sub-zero freezer agree to have their name and contact information (cell phone and email) added to the contact tree in the event of a power outage or machine malfunction.

Instructions on programming and reprogramming the freezer.  The freezer is programmed to trigger an alert if the temperature increases to -40degrees F or if the electricity goes out. 

If the alert sounds but the freezer temperature remains within a few degrees of -80 then it is a false alarm and wait and watch.  This has happened.  It may be that the alarm code needs to be reset or the phone alarm needs to be reset.

Specs on the Temperature Monitor:  ACC Sense model number A2-05a. http://www.accsense.com/p_p_A2.html

A copy of the manual:  http://www.accsense.com/files/A2-05%20User_Manual_A2-05.pdf

Freezer data are transmitted via the Ethernet connection on the monitor. All of the data on the freezer can be viewed online.

What to do if a power outage is anticipated. 

1. Get about 50 pounds of dry ice from Med Labs or HyVee (1^st Avenue in Iowa City) and put it in Freezer prior to the programmed outage.
2. Keep freezer door shut during the outage
3. If outage will be more than 10 hours, should arrange with Physical plant to get a back-up generator

What to do during unanticipated power outage:

1. Try to find out when the electricity will go on again, as many outages are short.  If power will be out for less than 4 hours, keep the freezer door CLOSED the entire time and the blood should be fine.
2. If power is anticipated to be out for more than 4 hours than follow instructions above for planned power outage.

Breakage.  In the event that the freezer alarm call needs to be reset or if the temperature increases in the absence of a power outage, call RM Boggs for evaluation and repair:  (800) 272-5001 or  (319) 665-3500.

The University takes the position that it owns any research data collected by faculty, staff or students. Any work (e.g., analysis, manuscript preparation) using identifiable data needs to be done under IRB approval – whether at Iowa or another institution.

Identifiable Private Information.  This is defined as private information about behavior that occurs in a context in which an individual can reasonably expect that no observation or recording is taking place, and information which has been provided for specific purposes by an individual and which the individual can reasonably expect will not be made public (for example, a medical record). This information is considered individually identifiable if the identity of the subject is or may readily be ascertained by the investigator or associated with the information.

(If information includes Protected Health Information (as defined later under Protected Health Information), identifiable information includes any of the following information for the individual, relative, employer, or household member of the individual:

• Name, street address, city, county, precinct, zip code, geocodes smaller than state
• Date of birth, ages > 89 years of age; or other dates such as diagnosis dates, procedure dates, admission or discharge dates
• Telephone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, social security numbers, medical record number
• Health plan beneficiary numbers, account numbers, certificate/license numbers
• Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers or license numbers, device identifiers and serial numbers
• Web URLs, Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers, biometric identifiers including finger/voice prints
• Full face photographic images and any comparable images.

This means that if you leave the University and have closed out your HawkIRB project (which you must do upon termination of your connection to Iowa), you will:

1. Leave the hard copy data here (usually with your dissertation chair).  You can take a copy with you.
2. If your data will continue to be associated with identifiers, you must get IRB approval from your new institution (local IRB) to continuing working with the data.

• Often the new institution wants Iowa to give approval for use of this data.  To get that, the individual contacts the relevant department head – in the case of the CON, that would be the Associate Dean for Research – in writing outlining their request to use the data.
• The approval from Iowa will include the condition that IRB approval be in place at the new institution prior to working with the data.

If your data will be de-identified (i.e., if you are able to continue your work with a data set containing only aggregated data and/or data that have no identifiers), you may be able to work with the data at your new institution without formal IRB approval, although it would be wise to review this with the IRB at the new institution.