Aggies bid on DHS BSL-4 biolab

Texas A&M University is eager to be the location of a DHS-funded defense research center working on bioterrorism and agriculture threats. The university plans to seek a $450 million grant from DHS which would be used to build the 500,000 sq. ft. National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility on 30 acres on campus. The center would study emerging diseases of both humans and animals, developing early-detection systems, vaccines, and other ways to prevent either the natural or terror-related spread of those pathogens. The facility would have the capability to handle diseases and pathogens at the highest biosafety levels — BSL 3 and 4.

DHS, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Agriculture (DoA) have identified a gap in the nation’s biodefense programs that would be addressed by this facility, a university spokesperson said. The Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York — which is currently doing some of the research that would be conducted at the new facility — is aging, has become too costly to run, and does not have enough space to hold the growing amount of research, according to documents from DHS. The biggest downfall of the Plum Island facility, however, is its lack of proximity to an intellectual community. Garry Adams, Texas A&M coordinator for the project and associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at A&M, said that “One of the reasons Plum Island hasn’t done as well as it could have — and this is not a criticism — is that it’s difficult to go on and off of an island.”

DHS will develop a short list by midsummer, and then a committee will visit the top proposed sites. The federal government would probably take between a year and 18 months to decide on a final location, during which time environmental assessments would take place. After a final site is chosen, construction would likely begin by 2008 and take about four years. Texas already has some BSL 3 and 4 facilities, including ones in Galveston and San Antonio.

MORE: One competitor the Aggies face in their bid for the new DHS biolab is the State of Mississippi, as that state, too, is trying to land the $500 million National Bio and Agrodefense Facility which DHS plans to build. Governor Haley Barbour announced the creation of a research consortium to support the facility. Mississippi has offered up potential sites in Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties for the facility, which will study bioterrorism and conduct research on animal diseases that humans can contract, such as avian flu.