Bring on the Ebola Research

For humanity to conquer Ebola and other deadly diseases, we need the right combination of scientists to study them from every possible angle. Where’s that more likely to happen — in a state-of-the-art biolab amid the world’s deepest pool of scientific and medical brainpower, or in a hypothetical facility on the dark side of the moon, where no scientist will ever want to work?

The answer is obvious. Which is why Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, located on Albany Street in Boston’s dense South End, should be allowed to host research even on so-called Biosafety Level 4 germs — microbes that cause life-threatening diseases for which there is no vaccine or treatment. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made just that judgment, giving the biolab a crucial approval.

Built with a $200 million federal grant awarded way back in 2003, the biolab building — which I’ve toured — is impressive, highly secure, and woefully underused. The decade-and-a-half-long battle over Level 4 research has hampered its ability to attract researchers.

The Boston Public Health Commission, in whose hands the facility’s future now lies, shouldn’t let misunderstandings about how scientists operate, and about how to keep people safest from dangerous germs, get in the way of life-saving research.