Frontline Foundation

Announcements

DHS Recommends K-State for NBAF

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommended that the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) be built at Kansas State University. The choice was announced in an environmental impact statement released after a three-year site selection process that began with 29 potential locations across the country.

The proposed NBAF facility would research high-consequence biological threats involving zoonotic and foreign animal diseases and would serve as the nation’s premier research facility for developing vaccines and countermeasures for diseases that threaten livestock and other animals. "This facility, once built, will help us to protect our livestock industry, food supply, and public health from the accidental or intentional introduction of a foreign animal or zoonotic disease in the U.S.," said Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science and Technology Jay Cohen.

The NBAF will be designed to replace the current facilities at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) in New York, which is currently the only facility in the U.S. that studies the live virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease. The current facility is too small to meet new research needs, has an outdated physical structure and is not appropriate for zoonotic disease research that must be conducted at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). There is currently no laboratory facility in the U.S. with capabilities for BSL-4 research on livestock.

"The leadership in Kansas and at Kansas State University have clearly demonstrated far-sighted vision in their investments to date aimed at protecting America’s food safety and agricultural industries," said Murray L. Cohen, Ph.D, M.P.H., C.I.H., president and chairman of Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd. (Frontline Foundation), which administers The National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program (NBBTP) for the National Institutes of Health and has conducted several NBBTP training programs at Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute. “We are proud to be associated with this great institution as our first regional Designated Training Facility, a partnership that will be extraordinarily helpful to both us and K-State with the NBAF facility located next door.”

Frontline Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit education foundation headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is dedicated to building national and global biological security and cooperative threat reduction through training, education, and ongoing research that allows communities and nations to best respond to natural and contrived biological incidents, emergencies, and pandemic as well as mass casualty management.

A formal Record of Decision, which will officially designate a site on which to build the NBAF, will be published Jan. 12, 2009. Facility design will begin in 2009 with plans for construction to begin in 2010. It is expected that the NBAF would be operational by 2015.

NBBTP Names Kansas State University’s BRI First Designated Training Facility in the U.S.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - May 1, 2008 - Officials with the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program (NBBTP) have named Kansas State University's BRI - Biosecurity Research Institute - the first "NBBTP Designated Training Facility" in the nation.

A plaque illustrating the BRI’s new designation was unveiled during a ceremony Thursday, May 1, at the BRI. Representatives from K-State, the National Institutes of Health, and the Frontline Foundation, the City of Manhattan, the Kansas Bioscience Authority, and Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback were represented.

The BRI is the only BSL-3 biocontainment research and training facility in the U.S. that can accommodate high-consequence pathogen research on food animals, food crops and food processing under one roof, allowing for a more comprehensive research approach. The facility is also equipped with an integrated training suite that includes a classroom and mock lab, as well as a large auditorium and advanced video capabilities.

The NBBTP was established in 2004 through a partnership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Division of Occupational Health and Safety at the National Institutes of Health. Organized by the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd., the NBBTP aims to provide the latest in professional education to those who operate, maintain and work in biocontainment laboratories.

Murray L. Cohen, president of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd., noted the vision it took to pull together a facility like the BRI.

"Kansas State University, through the Biosecurity Research Institute, has shown bold foresight in planning for biosecurity and food security matters," he said. "This facility is unparalleled and unsurpassed. It took at lot of vision and gumption to move forward and put this together while a lot of folks were simply talking about what is needed."

Deborah E. Wilson, director of the Division of Occupational Health and Safety at the National Institutes of Health, said the recent advances in animal and public health research have led to a growing number of labs and a pressing need for high-quality occupational training.

"With the expansion of biocontainment laboratories in the U.S., so expanded the need for highly trained, biosafety professionals to help protect the investments made, support the nation's pressing research initiatives and to ensure the safety of the communities in which these laboratories are sited," she said. "In the last five years, the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program has expanded to provide training for laboratory professionals across the globe. We are leading the way in biocontainment laboratory sustainability."

"This designation is an acknowledgement of the BRI's commitment, that of Kansas State and that of the state of Kansas -- a commitment to the public health and safety of our country," she said. "The research to be conducted here and the personnel you have retained will ensure that the BRI will be as safe as its research is scientifically productive."

This summer, the BRI will also be the first in the nation to host the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program's premier biosafety and biocontainment curriculum. That session will provide the latest in professional education to those who handle biohazardous materials in biocontainment laboratories.

For more information about the NBBTP, visit www.nbbtp.org or contact Frontline Foundation, government contractor to the NBBTP at 678-781-5241.