FSML: Building a biosafety level II pathogen laboratory at Horn Point Laboratory

University Of Maryland Center For Environmental Sciences, Cambridge MD

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Maryland Horn Point Laboratory is awarded a grant to renovate several rooms in a secure chemical storage building at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) to create a Biosafety Level II Laboratory for research involving harmful algal species and a range of human and animal pathogens. This site was selected because it is a secure building set apart from the other laboratories and the oyster and finfish aquaculture facilities of the campus. The latter is particularly important because contamination of the hatcheries with harmful algal species or pathogens could compromise their operations. Thus, the overall purpose is to provide Horn Point researchers with a secure facility for continued research on pathogens and harmful algae without risk of accidental infection of the aquaculture facility or other laboratories and individuals on campus. There is much to be learned about the ecology, distribution and persistence of environmental pathogens. HPL scientists are currently studying these organisms in select locations of the Chesapeake Bay region where human contact is likely, in order to describe the distribution of these pathogens, determine the prevalence of bacterial antimicrobial resistance, identify the likely routes of transmission to humans, and quantify the magnitude of human exposure and infection. A new, secure Biosafety Level II Laboratory will allow HPL scientists to (1) isolate and grow pathogen isolates for genomic analysis, (2) perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing on pathogenic isolates, and (3) concentrate and detect pathogenic viruses from seawater samples. HPL scientists are also actively studying many aspects of the ecophysiology of harmful algal bloom species. Keeping these organisms in a secure Biosafety Level II Laboratory will allow HPL scientists to expand these projects, and work with additional potentially toxic organisms in an isolated environment. Broader Impacts: The new pathogen laboratory at HPL will provide a service to the wider Chesapeake Bay region. In particular the expanded research allowed with such a facility will provide valuable information to ecosystem and fisheries managers. The HPL is committed to education at all levels and it has a strong outreach program. While the pathogen facility itself will not be shown to the public (for obvious reasons), the research it fosters certainly will be featured prominently in outreach communications. The PI's plan to use the new laboratory to implement a winter graduate course in aquatic pathogens. No doubt students will use the facility either in course work, or in their thesis research. Of course such uses demand stringent adherence to safety protocols.