UTMB's National Biodefense Training Center moves forward

U.S. Senator Hutchison secures federal funding
and center welcomes distinguished director

GALVESTON, Texas - A nationally recognized training center dedicated to preparing infectious disease scientists to work safely and securely in high-containment research laboratories is moving ahead at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison recently announced $5 million in additional federal funding for the center and a center director was announced today. 

"A terrorist attack with biological weapons remains a very serious threat to our national security," said Senator Hutchison. "UMTB will use these funds to support the development of countermeasures against the threat of bioterrorism and protect our homeland."

Senator Hutchison was instrumental in securing funding - $1.75 million in 2007 and $5 million this year - to support the expansion of the National Biodefense Training Center located on the UTMB campus. The $5 million in new funding was contained in the Fiscal Year 2009 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations bill, which passed the Senate last week and was signed into law by the president.

The NBTC will enhance UTMB's existing internationally recognized biosafety training program, and will serve as the hub of instruction for the nation's emerging infectious disease and biodefense researchers. Dr. Thomas G. Ksiazek, a world-renowned expert on viruses, has been appointed director of the new center.

Currently the director of the Special Pathogens Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ksiazek will serve as professor in the departments of pathology and of microbiology and immunology, in addition to his role as director of the NBTC at UTMB.

"I have been a consistent supporter of the Galveston National Lab and am thrilled they have recruited such a distinguished researcher to be the director of the facility," added Senator Hutchison. "Dr. Ksiazek is uniquely qualified to conduct research and teach students in this critically important discipline of biodefense. His experiences at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help UTMB further its leadership, nationally and internationally, in select-agent research."

"UTMB is deeply grateful for the support Senator Hutchison has provided our premier infectious diseases program over the years. She has a clear vision of a safer nation and world, and has worked tirelessly with her colleagues to make that vision a reality," UTMB President David L. Callender said. "With Dr. Ksiazek at the helm, this new center will be a tremendous asset in our longstanding efforts to combat emerging infectious threats to human health, whether they are naturally occurring or manmade."

Ksiazek brings a wealth of experience and expertise to UTMB. He is an expert in the epidemiology/ecology and laboratory diagnosis of hemorrhagic fevers and arthropod-borne viral diseases. He has authored more than 300 scientific publications and has served as a consultant on operational biosafety and facility design to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, UTMB and several international laboratories. His international experience also includes long-term professional assignments in England, Taiwan, Indonesia and Egypt, as well as extensive outbreak experience in Asia, Africa and South America.

"Technical competence, comprehensive knowledge, proper protection, strict adherence to protocols, and one-on-one mentoring are the key elements of UTMB's biosafety training program," said Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, principal investigator of the Galveston National Laboratory and director of UTMB's Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. "Thanks to Senator Hutchison, this funding will enable expansion of a world-class training facility at UTMB that will ensure that scientists who are engaged in the quest for better vaccines, therapies and diagnostics for emerging infectious diseases and biodefense threat agents, are thoroughly grounded in biosafety and biosecurity practices, and that they are well prepared to work in the containment laboratories of the future. We could not be more pleased that Tom Ksiazek has accepted the job of leading the NBTC toward that goal."

With expanded construction in biocontainment research space over the past decade in the United States, there is a need as never before to increase the number of highly trained researchers and support staff that will be required to operate safely these high-tech facilities.

To date UTMB's biosafety experts, research scientists and biocontainment engineers have trained more than 1,000 individuals for work in BSL2, high-containment BSL3 and maximum-containment BSL4 labs across the country - as well as more than 200 graduate and postgraduate students. The NBTC is in the process of developing an integrated curriculum that includes training programs for researchers, safety officers and biocontainment engineering staff working within a research environment.