Office of Research Compliance

Human Subjects / IRB Policy Updates – July 2025

The University of Maine Policies and Procedures for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research (PDF) was recently updated as of July 31, 2025. All persons involved with human subjects research should read this revised policy.

Major changes to the policy include:

1. Collaborative Research Projects (page 8): Added information about single IRB.
2. Expedited categories: The numbers of the review categories were updated to be in line with the Federal regulations (pages 13-15).
3. A section on lapse of approval was added on page 16.
4. Added that the investigator must notify the Office of Research Compliance (ORC) at least 30 days before leaving the institution on page 18.
5. Added information about consent form and biospecimens on page 23, genome sequencing and consent on page 24, and mandatory reporting requirements on page 42.

For more information on human subjects research and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), please see the Office of Research Compliance: Human Subjects and contact us with any questions.