Department of Microbiology and Immunology

The University of Louisville's NIAID Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL)

 In the Fall of 2005, the University of Louisville was awarded federal funding to design and build the Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases. The award is the result or a highly efficient collaboration between the Office of Research, Departments of Biochemistry and Microbiology and Immunology, Research Resources Center, Office of Design and Planning, and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety. This effort is part of a larger comprehensive National Institutes of Health (NIH) program to improve the nation's biodefense and infectious disease research infrastructure by building twelve Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (RBLs) and two central National facilities (NBLs).

 This $22 million NIH grant is matched by $11 million in University funding, and is the largest ever awarded to a University in the State of Kentucky. The Center for Predictive Medicine will allow the U of L to take a leadership role in the Ohio Valley Region in fundamental and applied research addressing growing concerns about global emergence of more virulent microbial pathogens, and relevant homeland security threats to populations in our area. The new laboratories at U of L will be shared by multiple investigators, including Department faculty currently co-investigators in the design and construction phase. Laboratories intended for completion in late 2008 will be integrated into a large highly specialized facility that will allow modeling, development, and testing of new diagnostics, vaccines and chemo and immuno-therapeutic.

An important milestone was achieved in January of 2007 with 100% design approval by NIAID, allowing construction to begin. U of L was acknowledged at the April 11, 2007 ground breaking ceremony as first among those institutions awarded in the second round of competitive proposals to reach this stage. The construction time line includes a targeted completion August of 2008, and for the facilities to be operational by January of 2009.

•  These facilities represent unprecedented new opportunities for University of Louisville researchers and our collaborators in the larger Ohio Valley. This will involve expanding existing research programs, establishing new projects, and will include our academic partners, and current and future colleagues in regional hospitals, government, and industry.

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