OVERALL CORE ABSTRACT
George Mason University (GMU) Biomedical Laboratory (BRL) is one of 12 Regional
Biocontainment Laboratories (RBLs) established through NIAID support in the early 2000s to
serve as Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facilities to conduct cutting edge pathogen research and
serve as resources to rapidly address emerging infectious disease outbreaks. The BRL serves
as a center for scientific collaboration to 1) generate advanced knowledge of pathogen biology
and host interaction mechanisms, and 2) evaluate diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. The
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic exposed critical
vulnerabilities to the nation’s BSL-3 research infrastructure, including the GMU BRL facility.
GMU learned that there are gaps and opportunities to enhance safe BRL operations
management to more effectively face sudden disease outbreaks and support a more robust
pipeline of innovations for response to future pandemics. This proposal outlines activities for
three cores to enhance the BRL facility, increase high containment training, and provide
additional BSL-3 research services for pre-clinical innovation. The GMU RBL will 1) Implement a
comprehensive BSL-3 facilities preventative maintenance and upgrade plan to ensure continuity
of operations, compliance with federal regulations, and a safe and secure facility; 2) Enhance
safety and quality of BSL-3 laboratory practices; and 3) Create two new research cores in high
containment. The expanded Microphysiological Systems (MPS) core will enable organ-on-a-
chip (OOC) and organoid models for lead optimization, safety assessment, off target effects,
toxicity, and efficacy analysis. The Advanced Animal Research (AAR) core will support pre-
clinical studies starting with in vivo exposures and countermeasure testing and transitioning to
advanced animal imaging, spatial tissue, and cellular analysis. Together, the cores will
accelerate vaccine and therapeutic drug discovery and improve understanding of the
transmission and pathogenesis of infectious agents as well as host response.
