Lab weathers storms, not concerns?

A high-security pathogen lab in Galveston, Texas, survived the hurricane that hit the region last month, but is now the focus of safety concerns plaguing biosafety research of late. Galveston is an island often hit by hurricanes. Ike, which hit in September, caused more than $700 million in damage to the University of Texas facilities there, about $18 million of that to research labs, Nature linkurl:reported.;http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/4551012a.html But the pathogen lab escaped

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
A high-security pathogen lab in Galveston, Texas, survived the hurricane that hit the region last month, but is now the focus of safety concerns plaguing biosafety research of late. Galveston is an island often hit by hurricanes. Ike, which hit in September, caused more than $700 million in damage to the University of Texas facilities there, about $18 million of that to research labs, Nature linkurl:reported.;http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/4551012a.html But the pathogen lab escaped unscathed. "The entire island can wash away and this is still going to be there," the lab's deputy director, James W. LeDuc, linkurl:told;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/29lab.html?_r=1&oref=slogin the New York Times. Still, some say that locating a lab working with dangerous pathogens such as linkurl:Ebola;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54827/ and Marburg virus in a geographical area so vulnerable to storm damage is risky. "As destructive as it was, Hurricaine Ike was only a Category 2 storm," Ken Kramer, director of the Sierra Club's linkurl:Lone Star Chapter;http://lonestar.sierraclub.org/ told the Times. "A more powerful storm would pose an even greater threat of a biohazard release." The lab is a kind of sister institution to a similar but much more contentious project in linkurl:Boston,;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55087/ which has been stalled over safety concerns. Both were pushed by President George W. Bush's administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Galveston has run a small-scale BSL-4 lab since 2004, but a state-of-the-art $174 million building housing an expanded facility is set to open in November. Both safely survived the storm. The new building, 30 feet above sea level, was constructed to withstand the area's wild weather, from 140-mile winds to power outages. Extensive air filters, waste disposal protocols, and plans for stopping research and destroying some live viruses 24 hours before a storm hits should be enough to keep the facilities safe, officials say, though concerns still linger. Galveston is one of the five currently operating BSL-4 labs in the country; two other labs on that list were found to have serious linkurl:security shortfalls;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55093/ earlier this month. Four more BSL-4 labs, including Boston's biolab, are now in various stages of planning or construction. Officials are set to decide the final location for one of them, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, by the end of this year.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Alla Katsnelson

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Discover a serum-free way to produce dendritic cells and macrophages for cell therapy applications.

Optimizing In Vitro Production of Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Macrophages

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with Lipid Nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo