University of Virginia School of Medicine Vitals magazine published by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation (MAA MSF)
Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/45472
DON'T INHALE Thomas Braciale, MD, PhD, William Petri, MD, PhD, and Michael Weber, PhD, stand in one of the laboratories in the Carter-Harrison Research Building. The three men had a large say in the design of the building. Above right: Images from one infectious disease meeting that occurs weekly in Carter-Harrison. Undergraduate students, post-doctoral candidates , principal investigators, and clinicians exchange ideas in these meetings that cross over many different realms of research creating possible new pathways to research. Some researchers are going underground at the new Carter-Harrison Research Building. Along with five floors of laboratory and administrative space, the building also houses an underground annex where the University's only bio-safety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory space is located. The suite of six BSL3 labs, which opened in July 2011, is a specially designed, secure, CDC-approved facility where investigators can safely work with live organisms that cause infection through inhalation exposure. This BSL3 is a core facility available to any researcher from across the University. Investigators must submit a protocol, have special training and receive approval for their project before they can work with a BSL3 organism. Work with most organisms also requires approval from the sor speaker seminars are open to everyone. When graduate students and fellows present their research or give a journal club presen- tation, the audience includes participants from the whole building. Having easy access to colleagues in cardiology and biomedical engineering in the adjacent MR-5 is also a boon for the scientists in Carter-Harrison. "There is always a really thoughtful dis- cussion of scientific methodology," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's a really valuable facility for UVA to have," said, Barbara Mann, PhD, Chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee and one of the principle investigators who conducts BSL3 research in this facility. "It expands the research capacity of the University and allows us to study diseases like tuberculosis, which is one of the leading causes of death due to an infectious disease in the world, in a safe and sophisticated facility." Mann is hopeful that having the new facility will attract other investigators with BSL3 projects to the University as well. Vitals Fall 2011 31