Tufts' Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is still waiting for the green light on the construction of a regional biosafety lab that would work with infectious diseases.
The proposed 31,000-square-foot facility would be located in Grafton Science Park, a 106-acre area in the western portion of Cummings, and would provide research and office space for 30 employees.
Before construction begins, design and engineering plans must pass local, state and federal regulation reviews, Cummings School Dean Deborah Kochevar said.
"The biosafety lab project is currently awaiting approvals of design and architecture for the laboratory," she said.
The majority of funding for the biosafety lab came from a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Tufts will contribute the rest of the money needed to complete construction, approximately $5 million.
After its scheduled completion in 2009, Tufts' regional biosafety lab will house researchers funded by a $25 million contract the University signed with NIH in 2003.
That contract established Tufts as one of the nation's eight Regional Centers of Excellence for the Food and Waterborne Disease Research Network (FWDIRN).
In January 2006, Cummings hired the medical facility design firm Flad & Associates to begin the architectural and engineering planning. If all goes well, the laboratory should be completed in the next few years.
"The design phase of the project will take about one year, followed by the construction phase, which will take approximately two years," Flad & Associates laboratory planner Steven Freson said in a press release.
The lab must clear crucial government hurdles, as both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the NIH must formally review the plans "in four phases that cover safety, architectural design, engineering systems and security," Freson said.
The CDC divides biosafety laboratories working with infectious microorganisms and animals into four distinct levels that "indicate the degree of protection provided to personnel, the environment and the surrounding community," according to the CDC Web site.
These levels distinguish between the mundane and more high-risk types of research, according to Assistant Director of Public Relations for the Cummings School Barbara Donato.
"A BSL-1 laboratory is what a high school biology class would use. A BSL-4 lab is for research on infectious diseases with no known cures, such as the ebola virus," Donato said.
The Cummings Lab will feature BSL-2 and BSL-3 labs, both of which require a high degree of scientific training and entail an element of danger.
The state-of-the-art building will allow Tufts to provide maximum safety for researchers as they work to discover new vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases, Donato said.
The Tufts research, led by Professor Saul Tzipori of the Cummings School, will focus on microbiology and botulism.
The seven other regional sites, located in Maryland, New York, Michigan and Washington, will study areas including immunology, microbiology and zoonoses.
When Cummings first announced plans for the lab in Grafton, which has the second largest cluster of biomedical-related businesses in the state, local residents were concerned about the public health hazards the lab could pose.
Despite initial community concerns, Tufts believes the lab will strengthen the surrounding community by attracting businesses to the area, Donato wrote in a press release last fall.
Tufts has also sought to inform local residents and allay fears about the volatile pathogens the lab will be handling.
"Since then, we have strengthened communications between Tufts and Grafton residents and officials by discussing the school's plans and community concerns," Kochevar said.
