Viruses being studied for bioterrorism.

[Guest guest]

CSU set to wage war on bioterror

A high-tech lab unveiled Tuesday is one of 13 the U.S. plans for research on the world's deadliest organisms.

By Katy Human The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 10/03/2007 01:04:08 AM MDT

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7065903

 

[Whether this is for offence or defence will be a million dollar question]

 

 

 

 

 

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State University unveiled a high-tech, $30-million facility on its campus Tuesday, where researchers will soon study some of the world's most deadly organisms, including viruses that cause brain infections and dengue fever and bacteria responsible for tuberculosis. The new high-security Rocky Mountain Regional Biocontainment Laboratory is designed to contain these potent organisms and play a role in the nation's defense against bioterrorism.

"Here in the manufacturing facility, we have positive pressure - air moves out to protect products," said Ralph Smith, a microbiologist and interim director of the university's infectious disease research complex. Smith led a tour through the still-empty lab Tuesday.

In manufacturing rooms, researchers will develop vaccines, build tests to detect deadly flu strains and make drugs to combat infection.

Those products cannot be contaminated by particles on a researcher's clothes or tiny bits of dust floating in from a hallway, Smith said. Down another hallway in one of the new building's "biosafety level 3 laboratories," air can only move into the room, to keep airborne viruses and bacteria from escaping.

Researchers working there will wear self-contained air supplies, and handle certain types of biological material only in special cabinets or glove boxes.

CSU's new building is one of 13 being constructed around the country, funded mainly by the National Institutes of Health, to study some of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases.

Among those diseases are: anthrax, tularemia, plague, and hemorrhagic fevers, said CSU biosafety director Bob Ellis.

Researchers from across the West and other countries - after federal criminal background checks and fingerprinting - will be able to use the facilities for appropriate research, Ellis said.

Even then, Ellis said, Homeland Security will not allow citizens of several countries to enter biosafety level 3 labs - for instance, a student from Iran or Cuba would not be permitted.

Biosafety 3 facilities have double-door entryways, special ventilation and air-filtration systems, medical oversight and restricted entrance, Ellis said.

The new building also has less-restricted space, where researchers can study non-infectious parts of organisms, their genetic material or isolated proteins, Smith said.

"We cannot with any certainty predict what threats are in the future," said Mike Kurilla with the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.

It is reassuring, he said, to know that some of the brightest researchers around will be able to fight emerging threats in safe facilities such as CSU's regional laboratory.

Pending approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the building's level 3 labs should be open for research as soon as January, Smith said.

Katy Human: 303-954-1910 or khuman

If I came to you and said, "I'm going to perform a little sexual assault on you---a small rape---because, one day you could meet a rapist and you could be raped. But, it won't be as bad the second time as the first time." This is exactly the same thing as giving someone a vaccine, or a little bit of disease. It's nonsense! An Interview With Guylaine Lanctot, M.D. By Kenneth & Dee Burke

 

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