April 7, 2005
Third public meeting set on UW biocontainment lab
The UW Regional Center for Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease applied in December for a $25 million grant, to partially fund the construction of a regional biocontainment laboratory. If the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease approves the application, the proposed Biosafety Lab-3 facility would allow researchers to study infectious agents that could have significant negative public health impacts.
Information meeting on UW biocontainment laboratory:
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At 4 p.m. on Monday, April 11, the UW will host a third public forum in 310 HUB to provide information on the facility, information on infectious disease research and to answer questions from faculty, staff, students and the community. Facilitated by Vice Provost Steven Olswang, the forum will include presentations by John Coulter; Dr. Albert Berger, and Dr. Samuel Miller.
As part of the public outreach, the University has created a Web site that includes a complete tape of the first public forum and also includes a list of frequently asked questions. The address is: http://depts.washington.edu/rbl3/index.html.
Unlike level-4 containment laboratories, the proposed biocontainment laboratory would be used to work with diseases for which there are medical treatments, such as influenza and tularemia, but for which there are as yet no vaccines.
The UW’s facility would be built to complex specifications for design, facilities, operations, maintenance and security to assure a high level of safety. The Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health establish safety standards for the various kinds of biological agents that will be studied in the lab. Additionally, the research and the safety and security measures are reviewed and must be approved by the UW’s Institutional Biosafety Committee and its Department of Environmental Health and Safety.
Nationally, level-three facilities are in critically short supply. Since the federal government is prioritizing biodefense research, more specialized facilities must be built to house the kind of research funded by the Center for Excellence. Currently, work done under the grant is housed in various sites on the UW campus and in the region. These facilities were either retrofitted or constructed several years ago, before modern standards for handling infectious agents were set. The proposed level-three facility will provide an efficient, safe research site. It will also help position the UW as a regional leader and attract future research dollars to the UW and the Seattle region.
While the need for such a facility is compelling, a number of questions remain, including identifying additional sources of funding and siting issues. As indicated in the grant application, the UW has a plan to broaden public discussion of the project among various constituencies, including faculty, staff, students and neighboring communities. All necessary and appropriate information will be gathered during this process before a final decision is made about proceeding with this project. Upon the completion of these community forums and other public meetings, Olswang will provide UW President Mark Emmert with a comprehensive report by June 1 that outlines the views expressed by the community about the lab. In addition, another committee appointed by Provost David Thorud is reviewing the options for siting such a facility.
