BSL-3 Practices Core

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BSL-3 PRACTICES: ABSTRACT The BSL-3 Practices core is critical for meeting George Mason University (GMU)’s Biomedical Research Lab (BRL)’s mission to perform groundbreaking research on emerging infectious diseases, contribute meaningfully to pandemic preparedness, and be poised to respond timely to a bioterrorist attack or other national and global emergencies caused by infectious pathogens. The BRL serves as a center for scientific collaboration to 1) generate advanced knowledge of pathogen biology and host interaction mechanisms, and 2) evaluate diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. To meet the mission, GMU must have an adequately sized and trained workforce who can conduct high quality work safely and in compliance with federal regulations; effectively operate advanced instrumentation; and generate reliable data to support faster transition of new discoveries to the market. It is critical that the BRL has a strong BSL-3 Practices core to ensure continued safe conduct of research in a high containment environment that complies with National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and US Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Animal and Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) regulations. Creating and sustaining a compliant work environment for pathogen and select agent research is critical for the health and safety of laboratory operators and to prevent environmental exposure. The implementation strategies for GMU’s BSL-3 Practices core focus on 1) enhancing safety training by delivering a consistent, personalized curriculum, 2) implementing Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) to advance research quality and reproducibility, and 3) ensuring the BSL-3 research community can effectively utilize advanced research instrumentation through support and training by experienced members of the BRL applied research team.