Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). Photo by Boston University Photography

Infectious Diseases

BU’s Leading Home for Infectious Diseases Research to Get Major Upgrade with NIH Grant

National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) will use $7.5 million to update facilities and increase research capacity

The worst of the coronavirus pandemic might be (mostly, hopefully) behind us, but other pathogens continue to wreak havoc around the world—and some are even on our own doorstep. In Rwanda, health authorities are scrambling to halt a deadly Marburg outbreak. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) has infected thousands. And in New England, multiple towns recently urged residents to stay indoors after dusk to curb the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).

At Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), researchers are searching for ways to fight back against pernicious pathogens and diseases. One of just two National Biocontainment Laboratories in the United States, it’s just been given a $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to modernize its facilities and help broaden its impact.

Completed in 2009 in BioSquare, an innovation and business park in Boston’s South End, the lab allows researchers to study pathogens, like Marburg, Ebola, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2, in a highly secure and protected environment. According to the NEIDL’s director, Nancy J. Sullivan, the new research facilities construction grant, or C06, will enable BU to make important upgrades to the building, enhancing its safety equipment and allowing it to host more studies. The funding will support the modernization of decontamination, isolation, and pressure control systems, new air locks, and renovation of insectary containment spaces.

“The NEIDL is in a new phase of scientific growth,” says Sullivan, a BU Edward Avedisian Professor and Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine professor of virology, immunology, and microbiology. “Growing the NEIDL delivers new opportunities for collaboration across BU departments, as well as increasing opportunities for sponsored research, including with biopharma.”

In current studies, researchers at the NEIDL are investigating Ebola antibodies, the interaction between the yellow fever virus and human cells, and how organisms can defend against pathogens without damaging tissue. It’s also been a hub of research during the COVID era, leading studies with BU faculty and outside experts into how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells and pursuing improved vaccines.

“Boston University’s NEIDL is a national resource for the study of emerging infectious diseases that threaten public health,” says Thomas Bifano, BU’s vice president and associate provost ad interim for research.

Scientists at the facility were part of a recent breakthrough cross-disciplinary BU project that used a new type of RNA to create a more effective COVID vaccine.

“This significant grant from the National Institutes of Health is a testament to the important work Boston University scientists are doing at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories,” says US Senator Ed Markey (Hon.’04) (D-Mass.). “I always say that Massachusetts is the Brain State. The bright minds at the NEIDL are keeping all of us safer from future pandemics.”

Faster Decontamination, More Research

With seven floors and almost 200,000 square feet of space—nearly 50 percent of which is earmarked for containment laboratories—it takes a lot of work to keep the NEIDL running, and running safely.

“A substantial portion of our staff are focused on infrastructure, safety, and operations,” says Sullivan, who’s also a College of Arts & Sciences professor of biology. Last year, the NEIDL underwent 20 inspections, including a surprise one from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It passed every safety inspection, says Sullivan, with one even lauding it as the best-run facility of its kind in the country.

Sullivan says one example of the grant’s potential impact is that it will allow the NEIDL team to speed up the decontamination of biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) facilities, those used to study the most dangerous pathogens. With new equipment, a process that used to take days—and plenty of manual labor—could be completed in hours, even minutes.

“That means we can turn around studies much, much faster,” she says. “With higher throughput, we can expand the number of things that we’re able to do and still maintain rigorous safety standards.”

Although the NEIDL is supported by funding from the federal government and BU, a large portion of its backing comes from sponsored research, particularly biopharma companies looking to use BU facilities and expertise to test new ways of taking down pathogens and viruses. The upgrades will allow it to bring in more of that work. Among the organizations supporting the NEIDL’s application for the grant were the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, MassBIO, the New England Council, and the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.

“Boston University remains one of the leading institutions in the world for fighting viral diseases,” says Kenneth R. Lutchen, BU’s senior advisor to the president, strategy and innovation. “The NIH C06 affirms the extraordinary mission of the NEIDL to advance understanding, detection, and treatment for emerging infectious diseases, especially those that are most dangerous.

“Specifically, the NIH C06 helps ensure that we have cutting-edge core facilities to perform this incredibly challenging and important research, and for translating that new knowledge into innovative ways for early detection or vaccine efficacy and development.”

Sullivan says that winning this new NIH funding, alongside BU’s growing reputation in infectious diseases, should help the NEIDL continue to attract the world’s best researchers.

“Our primary goal is to do research on highly pathogenic organisms that can’t be done elsewhere,” says Sullivan. “We’ve got this beautiful building, and this award is going to be attractive to faculty coming to BU, because they’re going to see the support for them to do their work, that we’re going to do what’s needed to give faculty what they need to excel.”