The Biocontainment Facility provides space for the safe conduct of in vivo and in vitro experimentation using Risk Group 3 pathogens and toxins. The secondary purpose of the facility is to provide opportunities for researchers, post-docs, technicians, and others to gain experience in conducting research in a high containment environment.
Core Equipment List
The Biocontainment Facility, a BSL-3/ABSL-3 capable laboratory, has approximately 2200 sq. ft. in total floor space. The modular facility, built by CERTEK, a North Carolina company, includes one animal room, an animal procedure room, necropsy, and a laboratory. Additional support space includes 2 anteroom/airlocks, personnel locker room, shower, PPE donning/doffing room, a storeroom adjacent to the animal room, and a vaporized hydrogen peroxide decontamination room.
The facility is also served by an effluent decontamination system that injects bleach into the effluent. The laboratory is equipped with both a Class II, Type B2 and Class II, Type A2 biosafety cabinets. It has refrigerator, -80 freezer, two incubators, and additional standard laboratory equipment (microscopes, centrifuges, etc.). The animal procedure room is equipped with a Class II, Type B2 biosafety cabinet. It has an exam table, isoflurane gas anesthesia machine, and physiologic monitors. The necropsy is equipped with a down-draft procedure table, tissue digester, and facility autoclave.
Core Services Offered
Facility – provide space and equipment for the conduct of research. Core personnel provide facility management, scheduling, maintenance, supply, and sanitation support.
Training – Core personnel provide training in donning and doffing personal protective equipment, operation of facility equipment, emergency procedures (spill, fire, loss of electrical power, etc.).
Project specific support – training for, or performance of, animal care, research procedures, and biosafety tasks as requested by the research team.