A rogues' gallery of dangerous organisms is coming under the microscope at anew laboratory. Dick Ahlstrom reports
Six years of persistence and hard graft has led to the opening of a world-class centre for research in to dangerous infectious diseases. The new laboratory, at University College Dublin, will handle some of the most hazardous organisms known behind a containment system that will prevent any escapes.
The President, Mrs McAleese, last week officially opened the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases, on UCD's Belfield campus. As well as conducting extensive research it will act as a training facility both for scientists and for doctors working with infectious diseases, according to Prof William Hall, the centre's director.
"It is probably the best viral diagnostic unit in Europe," he says of the €8.5m centre. "We have all the equipment we need to cover all aspects of infectious diseases. It is an internationally competitive facility for infectious-disease research."
Hall originated the concept of the centre in 1996, after returning from the US, where he was head of virology and director of the clinical-research centre at the Rockefeller University, in New York. (He also spent time at Cornell University Medical College.)
He realised that a "void" in infectious-diseases research was slowing the emergence of research-based treatments. This was bad for research and bad for patients waiting for new treatment options.
He started raising funds towards a new centre that could complement the work already being done by UCD's virus reference laboratory. The President demonstrated her early support by becoming sole patron of the yet-to-be-built centre, and a private donor decided to pledge €1 million towards its development.
Further support came from the university and from the Department of Health and Children. "The department has really pulled out the stops on this one," says Hall.
Hall is unusual in his twin qualifications as a doctor and as a scientist. He is professor of medical microbiology at UCD and is what is known as a clinician scientist. He believes it is necessary and valuable for doctors to become directly involved in research issues as a way to fast-track new treatments and foster the bench-to-bedside approach to medical practice.
The striking new building is purpose-built for handling dangerous organisms. It is internationally classed as a Biological Level 3, or BL3, structure in terms of containment (BL4 is the highest level). "We are almost at BL4," says Hall, but this extra level was not sought, given the type of research to be pursued at the centre.
BL3 requires four layers of containment, with passage through each layer through sealed doors and air-pressurisation systems. There are two storeys of ventilation ducting and filtration systems above the one-storey containment facility, he says.
The building also houses wet labs, tissue-culture and flow-cytometry equipment, the latest DNA sequencing systems and real-time polymerase chain reaction machines, to mention just some of the equipment.
Research issues include work on human T-cell leukaemia viruses; HIV, the AIDS virus; influenza and SARS, the dangerous new avian flu; and the human papillomavirus, one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted infection.
The great thing about the new centre is that it will provide a fast, accurate diagnosis for serious diseases locally. Its expertise would immediately be called into action should the Republic become the target of a bioterror attack or if cases of SARS, the Ebola virus or smallpox appeared. It is this aspect that encouraged the department to contribute to the facility.
"The biological materials will be brought into the facility, be studied and then inactivated," says Hall. Nothing will escape; nor will the centre hold stocks of dangerous organisms.
Most importantly, he believes, it will become a centre for training, not just for local clinician scientists but also those from the developing world. "We want to create a hub for training clinicians from developing countries, so they can go back to develop the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases," says Hall. Early links have already been established with Vietnam and Brazil.