BiolabsNBAF-focused research already underway at K-State U, ahead of level-4 biolab opening
Although the remaining funding for the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility, or NBAF, was recently finalized, work on the federal livestock research facility has continued to move forward in recent years — including Kansas State University conducting research which will help jump-start future operations at NBAF. NBAF will be DHS’s premier foreign animal disease research lab. It will research high-consequence livestock diseases that threaten animal and human health. The $1.25 billion lab will be on the northeast edge of K-State Manhattan, Kansas campus. NBAF is anticipated to begin operations in 2022 or 2023. Construction of the facility’s central utility plant is more than 90 percent complete.
Although the remaining funding for the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility, or NBAF, was recently finalized, work on the federal livestock research facility has continued to move forward in recent years — including Kansas State University conducting research which will help jump-start future operations at NBAF.
The university’s Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, is in the third year of a 7-year, $35 million grant from the state of Kansas. The funding supports the development and transition of several NBAF-centric research projects as well as training and workforce development.
A K-State release reports that ongoing projects at the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center will complement collaborative research at the BRI — a state-of-the-art biosafety level-3 and biosafety level-3 agriculture research lab. Moreover, the BRI will kick-start several research projects that cannot be conducted at Plum Island. The projects will eventually transition to NBAF once the federal lab becomes operational in 2022 or 2023.
“We really see that $35 million in research funding as a very positive aspect,” said Ron Trewyn, the university’s NBAF liaison. “It enables our faculty and scientists at the USDA’s Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Unit in Manhattan to be involved, move research forward and train the next generation of scientists.”
The BRI focuses on a broad range of animal, plant and foodborne diseases that threaten agriculture, including several that can cause fatal human infections. NBAF — the nation’s only biosecurity level-4 livestock facility — will focus exclusively on foreign animal diseases that threaten livestock and, to a lesser extent, human health. These complementary missions make the BRI a natural springboard for launching NBAF-related research projects, said Stephen Higgs, BRI director, associate vice president for research, university distinguished professor and Virginia and Perry Peine biosecurity chair. Applied research includes studies on diagnostic tools and vaccines.
