Biosafety lab unveiled

Considered the most “sophisticated building in the state,” Tulane University officials on Friday unveiled a high-tech, $27.5 million biosafety lab south of Covington where scientists study cures for infectious diseases like HIV and potential agents of bioterrorism.

Touted as one of only 13 biohazard level 3 laboratories in the country, the 38,000-square-foot building off Three Rivers Road is a one step down from a level 4 lab, where the world’s most deadly diseases such as Ebola are studied.

The new facility, part of Tulane National Primate Research Center’s 500-acre complex, expands by sevenfold the center’s current biosafety level 3 lab space with a surgical suit and larger testing grounds, where everything from the West Nile virus to HIV and tuberculosis is studied, Andrew Lackner, the center’s director, said.

Lackner led the opening ceremonies with much fanfare, including a ribbon cutting ceremony and speeches from several state representatives, senators and other political and business leaders.

Calling the facility a “sleeping giant,” state Rep. John Schroder of Covington said, “People who come here and visit just really don’t understand (the center’s) role in saving and prolonging lives.”

“It’s hard to think of a more noble pursuit,” Tony Keck, spokesman for Gov. Bobby Jindal, said.

The facility, expected to receive the federal government’s approval to start operating this summer, will produce 60 new jobs with a $2.2 million annual payroll and pump $42 million into the economy over the next five years, Lackner said. It’s one of only 13 biohazard level 3 laboratories in the country supported by the National Institute of Health and one of three new additions, worth $60 million, slated for the center’s complex by 2010.

Like a high tech security agency, only top-notch government buildings like the Pentagon rival the state-of-the-art facility, Lackner said. People arriving at the center must first pass through two guarded gates and a 6-foot high fence that cordons off the area.

To gain access inside the new facility, one needs to scan an identification card, then look into an iris scanner that reads and identifies a person’s eyes. Once approved, the door hisses and slides open like in “Star Trek,” revealing another room with a biosafety cabinet, otherwise known as a laminar flow hood, that traps in chemical or biological agents while scientists perform tests.

“Basically, this facility is a box inside a box inside a box,” Lackner said. “If you put a lit cigarette in that last box, no smoke will escape.”

Scientists who enter the facility must navigate a maze of halls and breezeways, first entering into a room where they don haz-mat like suits and masks before entering the lab. Once they leave the lab, they enter a separate room where they disrobe and are hosed off by a hanging showerhead.

Before they enter the “clean” area, however, scientists are forced to put any fecal matter or other material tested from the primates, as well as their own suits, in an incubator of sorts, “a pressure cooker” that heats to 210 degrees, essentially killing any contaminants.

Nearby the incinerator is a white-tiled room where monkeys will be kept after testing is performed. In that room, an antenna is plugged into a socket that monitors the primate’s vital sounds via a computer chip installed inside the animal.

Lackner dismisses any notion of animal cruelty at the facility.

“We take very good care of our animals, and that’s something we take pride in,” he said. “Our animals have to be healthy for our data to be any good. It’s in our best interest to keep then as healthy as we can.”

In fact, in order to begin a test, researchers must be approved with checklist of at least six stringent federal guidelines, including independent reviews by peer boards, Lackner said.

“You have a gazillion layers you can get thorough and ensure people that the benefits outweigh the risks,” he said.

“The overall goal is protecting the health and safety of our community the region and the nation.”