Q&A: Studying the coronavirus requires a special, high-security lab
Not all labs are created equal, and only those labs with biosafety level 3 clearance can study live forms of the novel coronavirus. The BSL-3 designation means these labs are equipped with extra protections such as special airflow systems. STAT's Andrew Joseph spoke with Melanie Ott, a virologist at the Gladstone Institutes, about how her institution is working on restarting an unused BSL-3 lab.
Can you describe the space where this is being restarted?
The thing that we have done in the past few weeks is to recertify it and have all the right inspections to make sure the facility is tested from top to bottom. It involves the airway system, it involves the autoclave system [a heating container that can sterilize equipment], it involves the monitors at the door that show who is in and who is out.
What kind of research projects are you hoping to get started once the lab is ready?
The only thing that the BSL-3 gives us is, we can work with live virus. We can work to see if we can inhibit the spread of the virus in cells in culture and study the cytopathicity of the virus — how it makes the cell sick, basically. We’ve also created organoids of the lung tissue. We think that these might be helpful in studying this virus.
The thing that we have done in the past few weeks is to recertify it and have all the right inspections to make sure the facility is tested from top to bottom. It involves the airway system, it involves the autoclave system [a heating container that can sterilize equipment], it involves the monitors at the door that show who is in and who is out.
What kind of research projects are you hoping to get started once the lab is ready?
The only thing that the BSL-3 gives us is, we can work with live virus. We can work to see if we can inhibit the spread of the virus in cells in culture and study the cytopathicity of the virus — how it makes the cell sick, basically. We’ve also created organoids of the lung tissue. We think that these might be helpful in studying this virus.
Read the rest of their conversation here.
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