Key participants from IVI and GCEM at the Signing Ceremony for IVI BSL3+ Facility held at IVI on May 2, 2007. Sitting are IVI Director-General Dr. John Clemens (right), and Mr. Choi In-whan, President of GCEM.

IVI and Green Cross Engineering Management (GCEM) signed an agreement on May 2 to build a biosafety level 3+ (BSL3+) laboratory at IVI. The high containment lab facility will allow the IVI to conduct research on vaccines against dangerous pathogens, including avian influenza and tuberculosis.  

Under the agreement, the GCEM will construct a BSL3+ lab with high-tech equipment in a 349 sq. meter space in the IVI headquarters building at Seoul National University Research Park. GCEM is a leading contractor for the construction of pharmaceutical facilities and biosafety laboratories in Korea. In the two billion Won (approximately $2.1 million) project, GCEM will lead the design, construction and validation/certification of the facility, which is slated for completion in early 2008.

This file photo shows a personnel decontamination system (PDS) to be installed at IVI. PDS is required for a high containment facility of BSL3+ or BSL4.

To ensure the maximum level of safety, the new facility will be designed to strictly follow international standards, including those of the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Health Canada, and standards of Korean health authorities.

Work in the BSL3+ laboratory will include characterizing emerging viruses and selecting candidate vaccine strains against avian influenza (AI). The highly virulent H5N1 strain of AI, which has now spread to many parts of the world, can only be handled in BSL3+ or BSL4 facilities.

The new laboratory is expected to become an important resource for IVI’s global vaccine research program. “With the facility, the IVI will be ready to take on vaccines against emerging and reemerging diseases, including avian influenza and tuberculosis,” said Dr. John Clemens, Director-General of the IVI.