Boston University Medical Center officials announced Wednesday that simulated research training exercises are set to begin in late summer or early fall in the Biosafety Level-4 laboratory located in the South End.
The training exercises are designed to test safety measures for the lab in a risk-free way, BU School of Medicine spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said. Although this training is only simulation and thus won’t include the actual agents, the BSL-4 lab would eventually house some of the world’s deadliest pathogens, including Ebola and anthrax.
‘The laboratory is being opened for this extensive training exercise, which is going to take place without any agents,’ she said. ‘In an experiment, for liquid, we would use water with food coloring, just as an example.’
Berlin said all safety procedures for the BSL-4 lab, located on BU’s MED campus, are in place, and the training will test these procedures. Scientists participating in the training are going to reenact a previously published laboratory study, she said.
‘It’s like a full dress rehearsal,’ Berlin said.
The lab has not yet officially opened for research, but was granted a temporary ‘Certificate of Occupancy’ from the city in order to complete the training, she said. A full certificate will be granted once ‘legal processings [sic] are complete.’
‘It’s because it’s not research, it’s simply training,’ she said.
The training, which will last six to eight months, according to the June 24 National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory press release, had originally been slated to begin in February, but was delayed.
‘Things took time to come together,’ Berlin said.
Although construction of the facility is complete, the National Institutes of Health said in April that it would require at least another year to finish conducting its extensive safety review, according to the Boston Globe. The construction of the $192 million building began in 2003, and the BSL-4 lab was projected to open in late 2007 or early 2008.
Berlin said in a way, the delays caused by the extensive legal processes, along with additional risk analysis by the NIH, have been beneficial because they have allowed for this thorough simulation.
‘There’s not been any other extensive training opportunity in any other lab like this,’ she said. ‘We’re lucky to have this time.’
Berlin said she did not have an estimate as to when the lab would officially open.
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