January 12, 2016
Biosecurity Research Institute hosts USDA-funded course
The Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, is hosting 12 international participants this week for a course funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or USDA APHIS. The 2016 High-Containment Laboratory Practices and Techniques course promotes safe work practices and techniques in biosecurity safety level-3, or BSL-3, labs worldwide.
Attendees are chosen by USDA APHIS and are veterinary laboratory professionals with responsibilities that include direct involvement with research, biosafety, biosecurity and biocontainment in their countries. Some also have responsibility for agricultural or wildlife infectious disease surveillance for high-consequence zoonotic or animal diseases. All attendees live in countries in which BSL-3 laboratories are in development or in which training isn't readily available.
Course content will include laboratory biosafety and biocontainment basics, biocontainment facility features, risk assessment and mitigation strategies, personal protective equipment use, biosafety cabinet use, transportation of infectious materials, emergency procedures and other topics. Representatives from USDA also will attend.