BBSP (CASRAI)
Biosafety & Biosecurity Program Administration Certification — Professional
What you earn
The credential itself
Pass the examination and CASRAI issues this certificate and the post-nominal BBSP (CASRAI), signed by the Programme Director and verifiable by anyone, permanently, from the code on its face.
CASRAI Certification
Certificate of Professional Competence
This is to certify that
Dr. Amelia R. Hartley
has completed the prescribed programme of study and passed the examination in
Biosafety & Biosecurity Program Administration — Professional
and is admitted to the designationBBSP (CASRAI)
Certifications
BBSP (CASRAI) — Biosafety & Biosecurity Program Administration, Professional
CASRAI·Issued Mar 2026·Credential ID CASRAI-BBS-2026-O67EYS
casrai.org/verify/CASRAI-BBS-2026-O67EYS
Every certificate is issued under the signature of Dr. Diana Nieves Castro, MD, Programme Director of CASRAI Certification, who sets the syllabus, blueprint and pass mark for this credential.
It certifies that its holder passed the CASRAI examination for this course on the date shown, scored against the blueprint and pass mark published on this page — and anyone can confirm it from the verification code, without an account and without contacting us.
About this credential
What it covers
Body of knowledge
Exam blueprint
The exam is assembled to these weights on every attempt. They are published before purchase because a blueprint you cannot see is not a blueprint.
| Domain | Proportion of exam | Weight | Items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal, policy and standards framework1 | 13%≈ 5 items | ≈ 5 | |
| Institutional Biosafety Committee constitution and administration2 | 14%≈ 6 items | ≈ 6 | |
| Risk assessment and agent hazard characterisation3 | 15%≈ 6 items | ≈ 6 | |
| Containment: biosafety levels, facilities and primary barriers4 | 15%≈ 6 items | ≈ 6 | |
| Select agents, biosecurity and personnel reliability5 | 13%≈ 5 items | ≈ 5 | |
| Dual use research and high-risk life sciences oversight6 | 11%≈ 4 items | ≈ 4 | |
| Transport, shipping, import and material transfer7 | 9%≈ 4 items | ≈ 4 | |
| Exposure response, incident management, decontamination and waste8 | 10%≈ 4 items | ≈ 4 | |
| Total | 100% | 40 |
Item counts are approximate. Each attempt draws a fresh form to the weights above, so the exact number of items per domain varies between attempts.
Syllabus
13 modules, 13 lessons
Every lesson and every learning outcome is listed. The lesson bodies open on enrolment; nothing else about the course is withheld.
13 modules · 13 lessons · 100 h
Lesson material opens once you are enrolled. The full syllabus and every learning outcome are shown here so you can judge the coverage before you pay.
Module 1
1
1 lesson · 6 h
- Locked.What biosafety oversight is, and where its authority comes from6 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Distinguish law, funding condition and consensus standard as sources of biosafety obligation, and state the consequence of failing each.
- Determine, for a described activity, which regimes apply in a named jurisdiction.
- Explain why the BMBL is not regulation and yet functions as though it is.
- Trace the events that produced the modern oversight architecture and explain the shape each instrument took as a result.
- Distinguish biosafety from biosecurity and give an example of a control that serves one at the expense of the other.
Module 2
2
1 lesson · 10 h
- Locked.The NIH Guidelines: structure, scope and experiment categories10 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- State the scope of the NIH Guidelines precisely, including why they reach non-NIH-funded projects at institutions receiving NIH support for recombinant research.
- Navigate the Guidelines by section and cite a requirement to subsection level.
- Classify a described experiment into the correct Section III category and state what review and approval it requires and when.
- Identify the roles and responsibilities allocated by Section IV to the institution, the IBC, the BSO, the PI and NIH OSP.
- Explain what has changed in the most recent revisions and assess the effect on institutional practice.
Module 3
3
1 lesson · 9 h
- Locked.Constituting and servicing the Institutional Biosafety Committee9 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Construct an IBC roster satisfying Section IV-B-2 and justify each seat.
- Recruit and retain the two unaffiliated community members and explain what "represent the interest of the surrounding community" requires.
- Administer registration, review and approval workflows with correct routing.
- Draft minutes that satisfy the public-access expectation without surrendering legitimate confidentiality.
- Administer the annual report and membership notifications to NIH OSP.
- Manage the interfaces with the IACUC, IRB, chemical and radiation safety committees and export control.
Module 4
4
1 lesson · 10 h
- Locked.Risk group, biosafety level, and the assessment that connects them10 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Distinguish risk group from biosafety level and apply each correctly.
- Explain why an RG-2 agent may require BSL-3 practices and why an RG-3 agent may in narrow circumstances be handled at BSL-2 with enhancements.
- Conduct a structured risk assessment integrating agent and procedure hazards into a containment determination.
- Document an assessment so that it can be challenged and reproduced.
- Compare the classification systems in use internationally and state which system a given classification comes from.
- Identify the assessment that exceeds the administrator's competence and escalate.
Module 5
5
1 lesson · 8 h
- Locked.Agent and procedure hazard characterisation8 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Characterise an agent across pathogenicity, infectious dose, transmission route, host range, environmental stability, prophylaxis and treatment availability, and local endemicity.
- Rank laboratory procedures by aerosol generation potential and justify the ranking.
- Assess the specific hazards of animal work, high-concentration work and scale-up.
- Assess materials of uncertain hazard.
- Use the laboratory-acquired infection literature as evidence.
Module 6
6
1 lesson · 8 h
- Locked.Recombinant constructs, vectors, gene drives and synthetic biology8 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Assess a viral vector system, including generation, split-packaging, replication competence and self-inactivating design.
- Assess the insert as a hazard independent of the vector.
- Apply the NIH Guidelines' gene drive provisions.
- Explain why gene drive containment logic differs from every other case in the domain.
- Identify the synthetic biology questions that cross into dual-use review.
Module 7
7
1 lesson · 8 h
- Locked.Containment: practices, facilities and the BMBL8 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Specify the practices, safety equipment and facility features for a given biosafety level from the primary source.
- Distinguish BSL from ABSL, BSL-3-Ag, plant containment and large-scale containment.
- Verify that an assigned space provides the features the determination requires.
- Administer a containment inspection programme and the corrective action arising.
- Compare the BMBL model with the Canadian Biosafety Standard's verification-testing model and the WHO risk-based model.
Module 8
8
1 lesson · 8 h
- Locked.Primary barriers: biological safety cabinets and NSF/ANSI 498 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Select the correct cabinet class and type for a described use and justify the selection.
- Explain what each class protects and identify the uses each is unsuitable for.
- State the triggers for field certification and administer a certification programme.
- Read a certification report and determine whether it is complete, whether the certifier's accreditation is current, and whether each test passed.
- State clearly what this module does not qualify the learner to do.
Module 9
9
1 lesson · 8 h
- Locked.Select agents and the Federal Select Agent Program8 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Determine whether a material, activity or transfer falls within the select agent regulations, including exclusions and exemptions.
- Administer registration and amendment.
- Support the Responsible Official function and state what cannot be delegated.
- Administer security risk assessments and the access lifecycle.
- Administer inventory, transfer and destruction records.
- Determine reportability of theft, loss or release and name the form and timeline.
Module 10
10
1 lesson · 5 h
- Locked.Biosecurity, personnel reliability and insider risk5 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Design a biosecurity control set for a facility and identify where each control conflicts with a biosafety control.
- Administer a personnel suitability programme within employment and privacy law constraints.
- Explain why background screening alone does not manage insider risk.
- Assess cyberbiosecurity exposure in a research programme.
- Compare the US, UK, Canadian and Australian biosecurity regimes.
Module 11
11
1 lesson · 9 h
- Locked.Dual use research and high-risk life sciences oversight9 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Define dual use research of concern and distinguish it from export-controlled, security-sensitive and merely controversial research.
- Recount the policy sequence from 2012 to the present accurately and in order, stating what is currently in force.
- Administer institutional review under the applicable framework.
- Advise an investigator on the effect of a policy change on work already funded.
- Distinguish dual-use review from export control and research security review, and explain why none implies the others.
- Adopt the correct professional posture during a policy vacuum.
Module 12
12
1 lesson · 7 h
- Locked.Transport, import, export and material transfer7 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Classify a biological material for transport and assign the correct UN number.
- Verify packaging, marking, labelling and documentation.
- Administer the shipper training requirement and state why this credential does not satisfy it.
- Administer import and export permits and their ongoing conditions.
- Verify a recipient's capability before material release.
Module 13
13
1 lesson · 4 h
- Locked.Exposure, incident, decontamination and waste4 h · Locked
On completion you will be able to
- Design an exposure response protocol that functions outside working hours.
- Determine external reportability across multiple independent channels.
- Investigate an incident to root cause.
- Specify decontamination and validate it.
- Administer biological waste from generation to disposal.
Assessment
How the exam works
The exam is closed-book and multiple choice. Each attempt draws a fresh form to the domain weights above, so no two attempts are the same paper and no answer key circulates. The pass mark is 70% and is fixed — there is no curve, no quota and no adjustment by cohort.
Scoring is immediate. You are shown your overall result and, for every item, the option you chose, the correct option and the reasoning behind it — whether you passed or not. A failed attempt may be retaken after 90 days. The wait exists so a retake is a second attempt at the material rather than a second attempt at remembering the paper.
Forms are assembled to the blueprint above or not at all: where a domain cannot yet be sampled to that standard, the exam declines to start rather than issue an unbalanced paper. Your material and progress are never affected, and there is no time limit on when you sit.
Passing candidates are issued a certificate with a verification code. Anyone can check that code on our public verification page without an account and without contacting us.
Certifying authority
Signed by Dr. Diana Nieves Castro, MD
CASRAI’s certification programme is academically and medically directed by Dr. Diana Nieves Castro, MD, Programme Director, who sets the syllabus and blueprint for this credential and signs every certificate issued under it.
CASRAI has maintained the terminology and reporting standards of research administration for over a decade. It assumed leadership of the CRediT contributor-roles taxonomy in 2014 and carried it through to adoption as ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, now in use by publishers, funders and institutions worldwide. This examination is drawn from that body of work.
What the credential certifies: that its holder passed the CASRAI examination for this course on the date shown, scored against the blueprint and pass mark published above — verifiable by anyone, permanently, from the code on its face.
