Dear Colleagues,
I write on behalf of the Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects (COUHES), MIT’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), to share an important change to COUHES Connect that will impact multi-site research projects involving human subjects. As you may know, federal regulations require that such multi-site research projects designate a single institution’s IRB as the “Reviewing Institution/IRB” while the others will serve as a “Relying Institution/IRB.”
Effective immediately, all MIT requests for single-IRB review should be submitted through a new feature in COUHES Connect. This process replaces the PDF-based Reliance Request Form previously used and will help ensure MIT maintains compliance with federal single-IRB requirements.
Impact to investigators
These changes will affect new and existing single-IRB agreements as outlined below:
- Investigators with existing single-IRB agreements will not be required to re-submit.
- Investigators with pending single-IRB requests will be contacted by COUHES to discuss next steps.
- For new single-IRB requests with MIT serving as the reviewing IRB, the investigator will submit a request through their existing protocol in COUHESConnect. Relying sites must still complete a Local Context form.
- For new single-IRB requests with MIT serving as a relying site, the investigator must create a new Cede Request in COUHES Connect and enter the required information. This request must be submitted in alignment with the requirements for the relying site.
COUHES Connect single-IRB submissions do not replace SMARTIRB, reliance agreements, or other required documentation to ensure proper oversight. For more information on the submission process and requirements, visit the COUHES website on Single-IRB Review.
Please email COUHES@mit.edu with questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Leigh Firn
Chair, Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects