UAB Completes New Biocontainment Lab

With the threat of biological terrorism heightened after the September 11th attacks, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) wanted to enhance its ability to identify, treat, and vaccinate against infection from bacterial and viral diseases. Part of this effort was the development of regional biocontainment labs. UAB was one of thirteen sites chosen for the project, and the construction phase of the Southeast Biosafety Laboratory Alabama Birmingham (SEBLAB) has been completed. Lauretta Gerrity, associate vice-president for research for UAB, said, “This endeavor by NIAID was a good thing beyond the bioterrorism threat because, at about the same time, we were seeing a lot of activity from things like SARS, avian flu, and new diseases or reemerging old diseases, which we are no longer protected against by available antibiotics or vaccines.” Researchers at SEBLAB will study organisms such as smallpox, monkeypox, botulism and anthrax, along with West Nile virus, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever, tularemia and eastern equine encephalitis. They will also be working to improve vaccines for more common diseases in the United States, such as tuberculosis and influenza. “That is the intent for the regional biocontainment labs,” Gerrity said. “Many of the diseases that we may be studying are those that you might, in fact, encounter on the streets of Birmingham, such as TB or influenza. We were lucky this year that we didn’t have more problems with the flu vaccine than we did. We need to be able to better predict which strains of flu should be included in the vaccines that we prepare each year.” According to Gerrity, researchers will be studying “the whole gamut, basically, learning more about each organism, how the body responds to it, the immunology — therefore, what we can do to prevent infection, what we can do to treat infections, and how we can better identify the presence of the organism in a population. These are all aspects of the research that would be conducted.” When putting out the call for applications, the NIAID based its selection criteria on several factors. “Most important was where the scientific and technical expertise to help them do these kinds of studies was,” Gerrity said. UAB was chosen because of its researchers’ capabilities. “I think that the knowledge people have of the kinds of experiments we do here and our research base, our expertise, was important in that decision,” she said. Construction on the lab began in 2006, and the building is substantially complete. The building is in the commissioning phase, which means that the systems supporting the building are being tested to ensure that they function as designed. The goal is to make sure the lab is safe for everyone. “It is indeed a safe lab.” Gerrity said. “It is at the same standards that people might expect in a human surgery suite. We are controlling the airflow, cleanliness and so forth. Remember that it’s sitting here, right next door to us. We want to make sure it’s safe. We feel good about it and you should, too.” UAB is currently working on setting a date when research will begin. Southern Research Institute (SRI), a partner in getting the lab, will use it for research as well. “There is a lot of interaction with SRI,” Gerrity said. “They were part of our application, and we anticipate that they will be a user of this building and that our investigators will be collaborators in this building.” Fully occupied, the lab may be used by about a dozen researchers at a time. Usually the lab will not be fully occupied, and the researchers will not stay and work at the lab in a full-time capacity. The lab will have a rotation of scientists going through it as they work on projects. A $22 million project — the majority of which was paid through a grant from NIAID — the lab is a beneficial addition to UAB. “It’s a research tool for our investigators and other investigators who are working in these labs,” said Gerrity, who is excited about “the opportunities that it gives for our research and for us to be able to quickly respond to new, emerging diseases.” When asked if this lab being located at UAB was, in a small way, a show of respect for the university, Gerrity responded, “I believe so. This was a competitive grant application, and it’s really recognition of our expertise in the area.” June 2008