Newswise — South Dakota State University has won a Defense contract to evaluate U.S. veterinary diagnostic laboratories’ efforts to keep disease-causing microbes and toxins safely inside the labs.
“The whole goal behind this project is to find ways to minimize the likelihood that someone with nefarious intent could walk out of a lab with a vial of some bacteria or virus that they aren’t supposed to have,” said associate director and diagnostic pathologist Tanya Graham of SDSU’s Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, or ADRDL. “The results of this project will allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security, and all U.S. veterinary diagnostic laboratories to improve the existing policies and procedures that prevent inappropriate access to pathogenic microbes and toxins.”
Graham and Dr. David Zeman, head of SDSU’s Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department and director of the ADRDL, are principal investigators for the $1.5 million Department of Defense contract, which will help protect both humans and animals.
"Laboratory security has been a sensitive issue for infectious disease diagnostic and research laboratories, especially since 9/11,” Zeman said. “Securing the pathogens we work with is important so that those intent on malicious activities will not have access to them. This study has the potential to provide significant updated data that can be used by other animal health laboratories and research units across the country to assess their vulnerabilities."
Barry Dunn, dean of SDSU’s College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, said the impact of the project reaches far beyond South Dakota. “Drs. Graham and Zeman are providing outstanding and creative service on a project that will greatly improve the security of our nation. I am extremely proud of their leadership,” he said.
SDSU is working with two teammates, Science Applications International Corp. and Sandia National Laboratories, to carry out portions of the two-year study.
The grant calls for SDSU’s Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current biosecurity procedures in place at U.S. veterinary laboratories, while also taking into consideration best practices in similar laboratories in other countries. SDSU also will receive funding to add physical infrastructure enhancements at its Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, even though the facility already meets at least the minimum requirements set for labs that are authorized to handle what the federal government has identified as “select agents.”
Sandia National Laboratories, acting as a subcontractor to SDSU, will then evaluate the effectiveness of those additional biosecurity safeguards through its International Biological Threat Reduction Program.
Select agents include pathogens such as the bacteria that cause anthrax, for example. Veterinary diagnostic labs in states such as South Dakota routinely handle anthrax bacteria because anthrax spores in the soil of the region cause livestock deaths in the Great Plains states every year when grazing animals ingest the spores. Diagnostic labs ordinarily do the examinations to determine what killed the animals, and researchers in “select agent facilities” that meet stringent security guidelines sometimes keep pathogens such as anthrax in the lab in order to carry out research.
Graham noted that there is also concern about anthrax and similar organisms that could be considered "dual use"— that is, the same organism needed for researching better vaccines or treatments could also be used as a weapon of terrorism.
A major part of the project involves work by teammate, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which is developing an application or software program that can be used as a pre-employment screening tool for individuals seeking positions in select agent facilities. SAIC’s role is to evaluate whether an application tool such as a software program would be useful in determining who does and who does not have access to pathogenic organisms such as anthrax.
Graham said the scope of the overall project reflects the heightened importance given to biosecurity at select agent facilities since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Federal agencies have tightened up institutional and personal security measures and procedures intended to prevent the loss, theft, misuse, diversion or intentional release of pathogens, toxin-producing organisms, or toxins that are held by laboratories or transferred between such facilities.
“At the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at South Dakota State University and other labs like ours around the country, that translates into multiple layers of security, with rigorous annual inspections by the USDA and the CDC, to ensure that we protect people from the germs and germs from the people,” Graham said.
But not all biosecurity measures work equally well in each laboratory, Graham said, and veterinary diagnostic laboratory personnel around the U.S. or in other countries may have other good ideas that could further improve biosecurity. The two-year study could bring some of those good ideas to light so that the public can benefit from improved security at such laboratories, Graham said.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota helped secure the contract for SDSU’s Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department, working with SDSU Vice President for Research Kevin Kephart.
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