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Celebration marks completion of $1.2 billion NBAF lab for studying animal-to-human pathogens

One-of-a-kind U.S. research facility to advance testing, vaccines against global threats

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/05/24/celebration-marks-completion-of-1-2-billion-nbaf-lab-for-studying-animal-to-human-pathogens/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Excerpt:

.....On Wednesday, officials of local, state and federal government celebrated completion of the research facility constructed to replace a laboratory built nearly 70 years ago in Plum Island, N.Y. While the process of constructing the facility has been finished, full transfer of the science mission from the BSL-3 Plum Island station to NBAF in Manhattan could take a couple years. Research activity at NBAF is expected to gradually expand.

At NBAF, about 400 personnel will eventually make the $1.25 billion laboratory their scientific home. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security presided over construction, but NBAF will be owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said NBAF was the first U.S. laboratory with biosafety level-4 containment areas capable of more fully engaging in large livestock research essential to the agricultural economy. He was joined at the event by Gov. Laura Kelly and former Govs. Kathleen Sebelius and Sam Brownback, as well as U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall as well as former U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.

“This new, innovative facility will give USDA scientists access to cutting-edge, safe and secure technology so they can continue to lead the world in animal health research, training and diagnostics to protect our food supply, agricultural economy and public health,” Vilsack said. “America’s farmers, ranchers and consumers count on our researchers and diagnosticians to understand, monitor for and develop solutions to combat a variety of high-consequence animal pathogens, and a facility of this magnitude positions us to respond.”

.....NBAF is a strategic national asset that will help USDA stay proactive in leading efforts to protect public health and address new and emerging diseases,” said Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and undersecretary for research, education and economics. “This new, modernized facility is a critical down payment in ensuring our country has the tools we need to keep the American people and our agricultural animals safe.”

The facility is adjacent to Kansas State University and located on a 48-acre NBAF campus with more than 700,000 square feet of building space.
NBAF will focus on research to understand high-consequence and emerging animal diseases and develop countermeasures, such as vaccines and antivirals. There will be work on prevention, surveillance, diagnosis and response to diseases, including management of two vaccine banks and the training of state and federal veterinarians to recognize livestock diseases.

Hensley, for example, will operate in a state-of-the-art biosafety level-4 laboratory at NBAF — the highest level of U.S. research biocontainment. Those spaces require scientists to wear protective suits with respirators, enter laboratory spaces through air-locked rooms and undergo a series of showers when exiting areas exposed to contaminants.

Hensley said the COVID-19 pandemic gave people a taste of what could transpire if there was the type of disease outbreak that undermined the crop or animal agricultural industries and derailed the domestic food supply.

.....In advance of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, NBAF researchers offered reporters a tour of laboratories packed with equipment, animal holding areas void of livestock as well as sophisticated facilities relied upon to protect the public from pathogens. Livestock used in experiments — such as Holstein steers — would be moved inside a facility that resembled more of a hospital than a barn. Animals would temporarily reside in containment rooms until euthanized.

NBAF consists of routine business offices, low- and high-level research laboratories and an area for manufacture of vaccines. NBAF will be a federally funded laboratory with research relationships with universities, including Kansas State University, as well as private companies working to develop testing and vaccination products. The facility will be among Manhattan’s most secure buildings and won’t be open to the public.

Air pressure controls in laboratories and hallways help seal work spaces from the outside world, a football field of filter equipment scrubs indoor air and carcasses of animals used in research undergo sterilization in autoclaves before incinerated. There are a series of fluid decontamination tanks, or pressure cookers, to deal with liquid waste from laboratories. Watery fluids also would undergo treatment by the city.

Electrical power to NBAF comes from seven 2,000 megawatt generators with sufficient power to serve 15,000 homes. Enough paint was used on the NBAF project to cover 69 acres of ground. Electric wire at NBAF could stretch 850 miles to New Orleans. The concrete poured during construction could shape a sidewalk covering the 300 miles from Manhattan to Oklahoma City.

Portions of the federal research structure were designed to withstand an EF-5 tornado or equivalent of a car flying into the building at 92 mph.
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Putting a biosafety level 4 lab right in the middle of America’s breadbasket and discussing vaccine research for livestock using COVID-19 as an example/excuse. What a ‘way’ to ‘accidently’ poison our agriculture? And why Manhattan, Kansas could it be that Ft. Riley borders the city? I don’t trust them.

YMMV