Ricardo Carrion, like many other professionals, starts his day with a meeting.
Then he steps into a pressurized suit, pulls on three pairs of gloves and walks into a high-security laboratory where he spends the next few hours conducting research on some of the most fearsome diseases on the planet.
Carrion, a virologist, immunologist and supervisor at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas, works in one of only four operational Biosafety Level 4 facilities in the United States.
In September, the National Institutes of Health awarded Boston University a $127.9 million grant to construct a facility like the one on Texas – including a Level 4 lab – in which scientists investigate diseases like Ebola, anthrax and Lassa fever.
The proposed construction has caused controversy among many residents near BU’s Medical Campus in the South End, who say the lab could pose a danger to the area.
Several agencies, including the Boston Redevelopment Agency and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency, are currently reviewing the project; if the facility is approved, construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2005 and finish in 2007, said School of Medicine spokeswoman Ellen Berlin.
THE RESEARCH
Biosafety lab facilities are critical to protect public health, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a government agency associated with the National Institutes of Health that plays a leading role in combating potential bioterror attacks.
According to the institute’s website, the research conducted at biosafety labs helps develop diagnostics, treatments and vaccines to protect against potentially deadly diseases that may affect people naturally or as a result of bioterror attacks.
Biosafety labs are categorized into four levels based on the level of danger associated with the diseases they investigate. Labs that deal with organisms that would not typically cause disease in a healthy human, such as E. coli, are given a Biosafety Level 1 designation.
At Biosafety Level 4 labs – like the one slated to be built at BU – researchers work with life-threatening pathogens that can be transmitted through the air or have unknown causes of transmission.
At the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, Carrion and his team conduct several projects at once, including research on Lassa fever, anthrax, SARS and hemorrhagic fever viruses like Ebola.
He said scientists at the lab are “getting very positive results” in preliminary tests of a Lassa fever vaccine. Another researcher is working on an oral vaccine against anthrax, and he said most projects support homeland defense initiatives.
Another component of their research is a drug discovery program, in which researchers extract compounds from African plant specimens and see whether they can slow or stop viral growth.
“We grew cells, infected them with Ebola and determined whether or not we could block infection or stop the cells from dying on their own,” Carrion said. “Once we would identify a compound, we would further analyze it and see if it would be useful in treating some of these viral hemorrhagic fevers.”
Research in Level 4 labs requires extra time and funding than that conducted in less secure labs, Carrion said, estimating that research in Level 4 labs is about three times as expensive as that in Level 2 labs.
At BUMC, Berlin said, scientists from BU and other institutions will conduct research on a variety of “emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.”
“The goal of this research is to research and develop diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic products to protect the population against these diseases,” she said.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Following the morning lab meeting, Carrion said workers at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research change into scrubs and inspect their suits, which are pressurized at about 28 pounds per square inch and weigh between 20 and 25 pounds.
Researchers then don their suits, plug them in and inspect each seam and glove, looking for air leaks that might allow infected air into the suit.
“There are numerous one-way valves,” Carrion said. “We look to see if we see air coming from anywhere other than a vent. If there is, we immediately circle it” and put the suit in for repairs.
The zippers are also covered with a soap compound or a wax-based lubricant, and researchers wear three layers of gloves: a latex layer directly next to the skin, a set of heavy canners’ gloves that are attached to the suit and a pair of latex gloves on the outside.
“We are moving much more slowly,” Carrion said. “You can’t move too fast in the suit. We want to make sure we don’t have any lapse in our focus – that can be trouble.”
Scientists can only work in the laboratory for a few hours at a time due to mental and physical fatigue caused by intense work, dehydration and the heavy suits, Carrion said.
“You don’t get to drink any water, and the air going into the suit is really dry,” he said. “We really monitor people.”
Once scientists leave the lab, they must go through a six-minute shower with decontamination solution and purified water, then remove their suits and take a conventional shower. Their clothes are then cleaned using an autoclave, which sanitizes using heat and pressure.
“When we’re really busy, we’ll take two or three showers at work,” Carrion said.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
Although he works with deadly diseases on a daily basis, Carrion said he feels safe in the lab.
If a suit ever developed a hole, the pressure of the suit would push air out instead of sucking it in, limiting any exposure.
“There’s a very minimal chance unless you accidentally inject yourself with a needle containing Ebola,” Carrion said.
The air system of a Biosafety Level 4 lab, which is based on negative pressure, also helps keep pathogens inside.
“If there ever is an accidental opening, the air is pulled into the BSL 4 at a high pressure, so there’s no way to get anything out of the BSL 4 unless you take it out,” Carrion said.
Removing equipment or specimens from the lab requires an eight-hour sanitizing process. Any item removed from the lab is chemically disinfected, then “cooked” in an autoclave for five hours and cooled for three.
Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research also strictly limits access to its lab. Only about 11 people have access to the Level 4 lab, compared with the 40 or 50 who have access to the Level 2 lab, and they all must have clearance from the FBI.
“We’re constantly weeding out people as we go into the BSL 4 people,” Carrion said. “The more people you have in there, the more risk you have.”
The foundation also closely guards its specimens, which are kept in a locked freezer. Two guards monitor the building’s entrances, and an alarm system that only a handful of staffers have access to secures the building.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases also outlines several safety features the facilities must have, including sealed walls and ceilings that keep animals and insects from entering or exiting.
The BUMC facility will “meet or exceed all federal standards,” Berlin said.
“Many systems will be in place to ensure the security of the building and the building design will ensure safety of the researchers and the community,” she said. “The air that comes out of a laboratory such as this one is cleaner than the air going in.”
These systems will include access cards and biometrics to enter the building, she said, as well as double HEPA filters to assure air purity.
Despite the potential dangers and high security, Carrion said he finds his work rewarding.
“I think the whole idea of working with a deadly agent and the fact that that there’s not really a lot known about it makes it exciting,” he said. “I think the fact that it’s new and not studied is what was exciting to me.”
But, he added, “If you get past the danger part, the rest of the biology about it is kind of straightforward.”