Biological agents pose a serious threat to human health, economic development, social stability and even national security. The classification of biological agents is a basic requirement for both biosafety and biodefense. We compared and analyzed the Biological Agent Laboratory Biosafety Category list and the defining criteria according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Insti...

The Nanyang Technological University School of Biological Sciences Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory is set up as a core facility for research work involving biological materials of potential biohazard. Many human pathogens— viruses, fungi, parasites, rickettsia, and bacteria are classified as Risk Group 3 microorganisms in the Singapore national guidelines that require a BSL-3 facility for ...

Retroviral vectors are becoming standard tools in cell biology as well as potential therapeutic agents for human disease. Many investigators have come to believe that retroviral vectors are safe, but both current biosafety guidelines and distributors of vectors recommend using the vectors under Biosafety level-2 (BSL-2) containment, with certain experiments requiring BSL-3 practices. This short...

Sodium hyaluronate has potential uses as an electrode lubricant in cochlear implant surgery. Deeper electrode insertions were achieved in six temporal bones implanted with sodium hyaluronate, compared to 22 patients implanted without sodium hyaluronate. Preliminary biosafety studies measuring hearing thresholds of six cats 4 months after implantation with dummy electrodes did not show evidence ...

Huge yield losses and deterioration of quality of cultivated plants occur due to continuous exposure of plants to pathogens and insect pests. The excessive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in modern agriculture result in a deterioration of soil fertility and through intracellular accumulation pesticide-resistant mutants of insects and plant pathogens have emerged worldwide. A number o...

Our firm conducted a risk/benefit assessment of "gain-of-function" research, as part of the deliberative process following a U.S. moratorium on the research (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Government Gain-of-Function Deliberative Process and Research Funding Pause on Selected Gain-of-Function Research Involving Influenza, MERS, and SARS Viruses, 2014). Due to significant mis...

The objective of this study was to evaluate both condensing (wet) and non-condensing (dry) vaporous hydrogen peroxide (VHP) technologies for decontaminating a worst-case scenario Class II biosafety cabinet. A 23-year-old Class II, type A2 biosafety cabinet equipped with loaded HEPA filters and an inoperable blower was used for this study. Biological indicators were placed at various locations w...

The characteristics of lentiviral vectors (stable integration in non-dividing and dividing cells, long-term expression of the transgene, absence of immune response) make them ideal gene transfer vehicula for future gene therapy. However, the most potent lentiviral vectors are derived from highly pathogenic human viruses, such as HIV. We describe how the field has engineered lentivectors with in...