BOSTON — One of the first things you’ll notice about the highly controversial Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories… a.k.a. the biolab… is that it’s hard to get into. Park in a back lot, go through a security checkpoint, pass along a guarded walkway and then you’re at the front door — where the real screening starts. Security at the seven-story glass-and-stone building is tight, something longtime biolab supporter mayor Tom Menino likes to stress.

“It’s probably the most secure lab I’ve been in. They’ve done a good job here,” he tells city councilors, community leaders and reporters on a Jan. 10 tour.

The $200 million building is designed for research on some of the world’s most deadly diseases, such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever and plague. Both have mortality rates up to 90 percent. That’s why the building has remained virtually vacant for years, tangled in a web of permitting and complaints over its location.

Menino justifies the decision thus: “People say to me — why an urban area? Well, we’re close to our 27 hospitals so we can share that research. We don’t want it in Timbuktu…. All precautions have been taken as we built this lab.”

A space shuttle environment in a Boston building

As the mayor leads attendees through the facility, those precautions are in your face. Literally: You need an iris scan to go practically anywhere. Biolab director Dr. John Murphy says there’s technology to prevent people from slipping into the lab behind someone else: If more than one person goes through, an alarm goes off.

Once inside, workers have safeguards. Dr. Ron Corley, the biolab’s associate director, says people working with the most dangerous agents will be outfitted in $2,600 spacesuits that are fed sterilized air via a red-coiled tube that hangs from the ceiling. ”Seal the suit up and you’re in the suit environment,” he says.

Every time researchers enter a Level 4 lab they’ll have to take a seven-minute chemical shower to sterilize their suit. And they’ll need to take a regular shower every time they exit. Which makes you wonder…

“If you need to go to the restroom there’s no place inside the lab,” Corley acknowledges, laughing. “And… at some point you get thirsty. So that limits the number of hours people can be in the spacesuits.”

As for the public’s safety, a negative airflow system is constantly sucking air into the lab so if a hazardous airborne agent did get on the loose, Corley says it wouldn’t be able to escape. As an added precaution, everything has a backup system — even the backup systems. “Whatever the requirements is, there’s one extra for it,” Corley says.

Menino’s cost-benefit analysis

Still, there’s no such thing as no-risk. Is the payoff worth it? Boston University says the labs could bring in tens of millions of dollars in research grants annually and create close to 680 new jobs, 300 of which will be high-paying research positions.

Menino likes the prospect.

“Just think about the lives we can save and the research we can find in this building and the talent this lab will bring to the state and city,” he says.

But that may still be a ways in the future. While the facility has been granted permission to begin low-level research, a decision on the more hazardous diseases might not come until the end of February. If approval is granted, it will take at least another six months before the labs are open for that research.

BU Biolab Video

BOSTON — After years of protests and legal challenges, Boston University’s seven-story bio-lab in the South End could open soon.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino led neighborhood and civic leaders on a tour through the building Tuesday.

The tour was designed to alleviate safety fears over the bio-lab and regulations of any city in America.

“It’s time for us to open the lab,” Menino said.

The building was completed in 2008, but only last month won preliminary approval from the state to research less hazardous infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and meningitis.

Boston University hopes to eventually use about 16 percent of the building for research on mostly deadly pathogens, such as Ebola.

The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL), better known as the Boston University Biolab, has been controversial from the get-go. Located on the University’s medical campus in the South End, you can guess from the lab’s name alone why people in the neighborhood would be weary about it opening. Despite plans to study some of the world’s deadliest germs, however, such as the Ebola virus and plague, Mayor Menino’s concluded the lab wouldn’t be a detriment to the community.

In hopes of highlighting the safety features and prospective economic impact the lab could have on the state, Mayor Menino led a tour of the facilities yesterday. Completed in 2008, the lab’s remained nearly inactive due to legal and regulatory holdups, according to the Boston Business Journal. Although Massachusetts environmental officials granted preliminary approval to begin level-2 research back in December, a spokeswoman from Boston University said the school wasn’t abandoning plans to eventually use about 16 percent of the building as a biosafety level-4 lab.

Only one of two biosafety level-4 labs in the country, the 192,000-square-foot facility could bring the state $98 million per year, including $45 million in research grants from several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. Boston University administrators said the project would also create 297 new jobs, 30 to 40 of which have already been filled.

“These are great opportunities for collaboration between the private sector and the public sector,” Menino said to the Boston Business Journal. “We’re going to be able to attract more of the world’s renowned researchers to help find the cures to some of these diseases. We’ve always been an innovator in this area, and this is another step forward.”

Cameras have already been placed throughout the facility, while each floor has an eye scanner to identify workers. Researchers in the level-4 labs are also expected to wear $2,600 space suits, breathe filtered air and take a seven minute chemical shower in the suit before leaving the lab, and those are only a few of the security and safety features.

To respond to the naysayers, such as the neighborhood group Safety Net, Menino said, “We probably have more stringent rules and regulations of any city in the country.”

The National Institutes of Health is in the final stages of a risk assessment of NEIDL, which will include a public hearing that was initially scheduled for February 16th. According to the Boston Globe, that hearing was postponed, allowing for more time to finalize the draft report. A new date has yet to be determined, but the best estimate is that biosafety level-4 research would not begin until October 2013 at the earliest.

In December, following the approval of Boston University’s level-2 research, Klare Allen, a community organizer with Safety Net, said to the Globe, “All the Safety Net and coalition group is trying to do is to make sure that the city of Boston is truly safe. This is a fight for our safety and for us to know what the hell is cooking in our backyard.”

What we see cooking are nearly 300 jobs and millions of dollars in funding. If the lab is found to be safe, what’s the problem? Sure, something could go wrong, but things could always go wrong with anything. Currently, the benefits appear to outweigh any potential risks.

But, what do you think? Do you consider this new biolab being a true hazard to the city?

BU Biolab Video

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will lead a tour of the Boston University biolab tomorrow, accompanied by two dozen neighborhood and civic leaders, in advance of what’s expected to be the federal government’s final decision on whether to allow researchers to study some of the the world’s deadliest germs at the controversial South End site.

Menino, a supporter of the project, said the tour will allow leaders to gain a better understanding of the research that is proposed for the lab, which sits largely empty three years after construction was completed.

“This type of high level research is a complement to the city’s medical hub,” Menino said in an interview. “The work that will be done there will help save lives in the future. I think BU has gone above and beyond on the security measures.”

For years, the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory — the official name for the 192,000-square-foot high-security biolab — has been tied up by legal challenges and regulatory reviews. Some neighbors and environmental groups have argued that the densely populated area of the city near Boston Medical Center is not an appropriate or safe place for scientists to be working with lethal germs such as Ebola virus and plague.

Massachusetts environmental officials granted preliminary approval last month to allow the lab to open for biomedical research on substances less hazardous than those that sparked opposition to the project.

In August, BU sought a waiver from the state to proceed with research on the less hazardous materials in a biosafety level-2 lab in a section of the facility.

The university plans to eventually use about 16 percent of the building as a biosafety level-4 lab for work on the deadliest germs. However those plans are still undergoing an environmental safety review by the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH had scheduled a February public hearing in Boston on those plans, but late Friday issued a two-sentence statement postponing the hearing to “allow time to finalize” the draft report. It said the meeting would be rescheduled, but no date has been posted.

January 10, 2012 9:00 p.m.

The Boston University biolab has been causing nerves to shake ever since plans to construct the South End facility were announced.

Now, as some research is set to begin at the $200 million lab, officials are attempting to soothe the nerves by offering a glimpse inside the facility.

“The folks that have been through it … have seen the safety measures in place and they are second to none,” said Mayor Thomas Menino after taking a tour of the facility with the media and some members of the public yesterday. “We have to educate folks in the neighborhoods that this is good for the city.”

State officials gave permission for the center to begin low-level biosafety research in the facility starting this year. Diseases that fall in to that category include strains of tuberculosis, the Dengue virus and measles.

However, research on the deadliest diseases has not yet been approved.

During yesterday’s tour, lab heads touted ventilation systems, $2,600 protective space suits, retina scanners and other safety and security measures to address concerns that have been voiced by the public.

Before researchers enter a level 4 lab, they will have to put on a $2,600 protective suit. When they exit the lab, they will first have to take a 7-minute decontamination shower.
John Murphy, interim director of the center, said that the facility will not only create jobs and provide an economic impact for the city, but it will also help researchers better understand deadly diseases and viruses and in turn better protect public health.

The what ifs

Because of concerns, Susan Sullivan, the executive director of the Newmarket Business Association, participated in yesterday’s tour of the facility. She said there will always be a concern, but that the safety measures provide some relief.

“We all believe that, always in the back of our head, the what ifs. But after [the tour], the what ifs are so minimal,” she said.

The middle of Boston the right place for a laboratory researching some of the world’s deadly. Is bacteria and microbes Boston University has been arguing for years its maximum security by — will be state. And bring hundreds of jobs business reporter Peter Howell was among those invited for — today.

some reasons or because they keep. And half years after construction finished the bust university — that has finally been cleared for research in the low level diseases like tuberculosis. And now he was working for approvals research cures. For the deadliest level. Or infectious diseases like people and hemorrhagic fevers. The more and more or just one airplane passenger away from the US these infections are frequently been able. The three ranges from between fifty to 90%. He used message there may be no safer place to research treatment and vaccine. Is what — girls. But. — You beat us. A heavily guarded era filtered Irish — protected reinforced concrete building inside of building. Hundreds of surveillance cameras setback from Albany street with fencing to stop a truck bomb. It’s I think it’s a good question the question are coming out now — this is safe and means big money. 45 million dollars a year potential research grants 300 — and 380 spin off jobs this about the future. That’s about it through the media tools that city. To do the resurgent — need that we need. Particulars of his disease so yeah. For all of the elaborate security measures have been taken what’s generated a lot of criticism as well as pending state federal lawsuits. These people asking why would you introduce the remote risk deal — he’s deadly pathogens right here in the heart of a very busy city. So once you market business association were present companies and — 151000. Workers nearby. There’s no such thing there’s no risk. But our businesses are comfortable. With a degree of security and — it’s time rushed over the last. The start doing some work to recruit him as my eyes to the research.

NECN.com

BOSTON — It’s been controversial from the get go.Ever since Boston University revealed plans to do research on the world’s deadliest diseases, neighbors of the South End facility have had safety concerns.Now years after debate, it is closer to opening.Pending water and sewer permits, the level 2 lab, which would do research on less hazardous materials, could open in the next two months.Level 3 and 4 labs, which have upset neighbors living close by, are still getting a risk assessment from the National Institute of Health.Boston city officials got a tour Tuesday of the facility after both Mayor Tom Menino and Police Commissioner Ed Davis said the layers of security are impressive and insure no one can get in that shouldn’t be inside.

The National Institute of Health will release a draft risk assessment on Boston University’s Biosafety Level-4 laboratory and hold meetings in Boston in the coming weeks for locals to voice comments and concerns about the document, university officials said.

Ellen Berlin, the BU spokeswoman for the biosafety lab, said the meeting date is not set yet, but should be announced soon.

Plans for public tours are being finalized at the Boston University Medical Campus National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, based in Roxbury. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino led a private tour of the building on Jan. 11.

“BU has begun conducting NEIDL tours for neighborhood groups and other interested parties and will continue to do so over the next few months,” Berlin said.

The Jan. 11 tour highlighted both the safety features of the lab and the prospective economic impact that the facility will have on the city.

A report published in the Boston Business Journal said the lab is expected to reap more than $98 million in profits for the city.

The Journal said once the lab is fully operational it will create 297 new jobs. Thirty to 40 of these jobs have been filled already. BU officials, however, are looking for more research teams to work in the level-2 lab, the Journal reported.

The Roxbury job market is projected to benefit from the lab. An estimated 380 additional jobs in markets such as retail and construction will be created once the lab is running.

Workers will likely have to deal with a strict safety protocol, which includes wearing $2,600 space suits, breathing filtered air and taking chemical showers in the suit before leaving specific rooms within the lab.

In terms of community safety, the lab has a negative air flow system that will carry airborne hazards back into specific rooms within the lab instead of out into hallways.

General safety is just as strenuous as biohazard safety. Hundreds of security cameras are located throughout the building, and workers will undergo background checks. Stairwells are off limits and floors are guarded by eye-scanners that will identify individual workers.

The lab received approval in early December to conduct lower-level research on diseases such as tuberculosis, according to an article published in The Daily Free Press on Dec. 5. Researchers are expected to begin work in the next few months.

01.26.2012 By Leslie Friday

John R. Murphy and Ronald Corley may be the most highly educated tour guides in Boston.

Murphy, a School of Medicine professor of medicine and microbiology, researches the ways that bacterial protein toxins get into cells. Corley, a MED professor and chair of microbiology, investigates immune responses to viruses. But much of their time recently has been spent leading visitors through the many chambers of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), where Murphy is the interim director and Corley an associate director. In recent weeks, the researchers have given tours for hundreds of police, firefighters, and EMTs as well as politicians and press, including the Boston Globe, which produced a video of the facility.

The tours have become increasingly popular since NEIDL, where researchers hope to develop diagnostic tests, vaccines, and new drugs for some of the world’s most infectious or deadly diseases, was given clearance by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in December to conduct research at Biosafety Level 2, with work beginning as early as February.

The lab was not granted permission to conduct more sensitive Biosafety Level 3 or Biosafety Level 4 research. Corley estimates that BSL-3 clearance could come within six months after the state reviews an environmental safety report being prepared by the National Institutes of Health. The opening for BSL-4 research is harder to predict. Regulators and the courts must rule on that first, pushing the date to at least October 2013, state officials say.

The state’s approval marks modest and hard-won progress for the nearly $200 million labs, which have sat unused on the Medical Campus pending legal challenges and regulatory review since being completed in September 2008.

The most recent tour by Murphy and Corley was arranged for BU Today and the Daily Free Press, with the intention, says Murphy, of getting the facts about NEIDL’s safety and security measures out to the community.

NEIDL interim director John R. Murphy in front of high-tech air filtration systems atop the Biosafety Level 4 facility. 

For starters, the 193,000-square-foot facility is surrounded by an eight-foot security fence. The grounds and building are under nonstop watch. All who enter must pass an iris scan, a metal detector, an X-ray machine, and an explosion detection device. And that’s just in the guardhouse.

Inside the main building guards again check visitors’ identification, issue them badges, and hand them over to their hosts. In fact, from here on, every entry point to any floor or lab requires an iris scan and a security card.

Murphy leads visitors first to the Biosafety Level 2 laboratories, where researchers will work on generally non-life-threatening diseases like meningitis, tuberculosis, Dengue fever, and measles. He approaches a wall-mounted iris-scanning device. Unlike in a Dan Brown novel, where a character uses an extracted eyeball to outsmart security, says Murphy, “the eyeball has to be live,” and—obviously—attached to a human being. He then swipes his card to open the lab suite’s door and a ticker clicks as each person passes. This is to ensure, Corley says, that no one “piggybacks” through the door. If the count does not match the number of iris scans performed, security is alerted immediately.

The BSL-2 labs look like standard chemistry course fare. Benches fill half of the room. A neighboring, self-enclosed tissue culture room is equipped with a biosafety cabinet and hood, where researchers sit to perform all sensitive experiments. Test tubes are opened only under these hoods, where high-efficiency small particulate filters capture any escaping pathogens. Researchers, who must wear lab coats, gloves, and protective eye and face gear, are trained to never bring an unsealed container outside of the hood. Cameras are strategically placed to record some, but not all, procedures.

On another floor, there are five Biosafety Level 3 suites, where researchers will work on viruses like West Nile, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), and HIV, pathogens that are being investigated in 11 other labs in and around Boston.

Before stepping inside, Corley points to a magnehelic gauge above the door. The device measures airflow and ensures air (and any pathogens it may carry) is always directed inward and not toward the hallway.

In the lab’s antechamber, a Tyvek beekeeper-like bonnet and a high-tech face mask hang on a wall. Researchers don this equipment, gloves, and booties before passing through another vacuum-sealed door, which opens only when the first door has been locked. The setup is similar to BSL-2 tissue culture rooms, except that every ceiling light and vent, equipped with more high-efficiency filters, is hermetically sealed, and every action is recorded by video cameras.

On the facilities floor, gleaming air filtration systems stand in seemingly endless rows. Murphy addresses visitors from a perch atop what he describes as a completely different building—Biosafety Level 4 area. “It literally is a building within a building,” he says, adding that BSL-4’s ceiling, walls, and foundation are made of “the most heavily rebarred concrete you can imagine.” The Level 4 lab also sits on independent horizontal beams that in case of an earthquake allow the building to vibrate independently of its neighbor.

NEIDL has backup generators and steam sources that would keep the facility fully functional for three days if there is a power outage, long enough to destroy or decontaminate any existing pathogens.

Finally, the group arrives at the floor housing seven Biosafety Level 4 labs, where researchers will study pathogens like the Ebola, Marburg, and Hendra viruses. Early on, Corley emphasizes that while these viruses are deadly, they are not all highly contagious. Most are transmitted through blood or mucus, not through the air.

BSL-4, Murphy says, is like “a submarine in a bank vault,” with 12-inch-thick walls to prevent leakage and to withstand regular formaldehyde and peroxide cleansing baths.

Here, visitors pass through an anteroom similar to the BSL-3 labs, then enter a room where baby blue space suits (at $2,600 apiece) hang from a wall. Researchers step inside and connect to a tube that feeds filtered air inside the suit, which “blows up like the Michelin blimp,” Corley says. They wear three pairs of gloves, one sealed with duct tape to the suit’s cuffs, and green garden boots.

Once dressed, researchers step through a double-doored shower chamber before arriving in the lab. More cameras are mounted on the ceiling alongside computer screens used for internal communication. Fire sprinklers, heat sensors, and an emergency lighting system aid workers in the case of a fire. NEIDL staff is currently working on a wireless communication system for BSL-4 researchers.

Before leaving the lab, suited personnel must pass through a seven-minute chemical shower, after which they remove their suits, place scrubs in a bag, and shower (again) thoroughly. Suiting up and dressing down takes a full hour, Corley says, so bathroom and lunch breaks are scheduled carefully around lab time. And no one reaches BSL-4 without having successfully practiced this drill at least five times at NEIDL’s in-house training facility.

All scrubs, trash, and liquid waste is disinfected or decontaminated by researchers before being dumped. “Housekeeping doesn’t come in,” Corley jokes, and nothing goes out unless it is clean.

“All biosafety is really about keeping the worker safe,” he says. And a safe worker means a safe community.

Corley and Murphy acknowledge that accidents have happened at Boston biosafety labs, including a 2007 evacuation of a BU BSL-3 lab where scientists were working on the virus that causes rabbit fever. But they are convinced that a well-trained staff and an engrained culture of safety can prevent such accidents.

The Medical Campus, they say, is an excellent location for NEIDL, despite its surrounding population. It offers a hub for power and steam sources for sterilizing scrubs and equipment and has well-trained first responders. And a medical campus is a great place to train the next generation of researchers.

“You’re not going to recruit the best minds out in the middle of nowhere,” Murphy says.

And Corley, for one, is confident that when it comes to recruiting expertise, NEIDL will be a very big draw: “We expect to outcompete every facility,” he says. “We expect to get the very best people.”