Project Abstract
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL)
resides within the campus in downtown Memphis in the heart of the medical district. The medical district includes
St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Regional One Health Hospital, Memphis VA Medical Center, and Le Bonheur
Children’s Hospital. The overarching mission of the UTHSC RBL is to provide leadership and support in the
discovery and development of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that would protect the general population
from emerging and reemerging infectious diseases and bioterrorism. The RBL supports and fosters basic
research and translational research that leads to the development of countermeasures for biodefense and
emerging infectious agents. In addition to the regional entities above, we support research for academic,
government and commercial entities, nationally and internationally. The long-range objectives and goals of the
UC7 proposal focus on the creation of three Cores to support RBL management and operations, and enhance
and facilitate medical countermeasure research for biodefense, emerging infectious diseases, and pandemic
preparedness and response at the RBL. The overall objectives and strategic plan for the operation and use of
the RBL and the Facilities Core (Objective 1), BSL-3 Practices Core (Objective 2) and the Biocontainment
Research Support Service Core (Objective 3). Objective 1. To provide a Facility Management, Maintenance
and Operation Core that will integrate preventive maintenance of mechanical and vivarium infrastructure and
scientific / biosafety equipment necessary for BSL-3 and ABSL-3 containment. Objective 2. To provide a BSL-
3 Practices Core that will integrate the management of operations and training for BSL-3 pathogens of which
some are select agents, promotes communication and harmonize compliance, security, individual competency,
and practices across our RBL Staff and our Users. Objective 3. To facilitate and advance research within
the Biocontainment Research Support Service(s) Core under the umbrella of the “Antiviral &
Antimicrobial Countermeasures Discovery & Development Core’ (herein abbreviated as A2CD2C). The
A2CD2C is unique within the RBL network in its focus on providing LCMS/MS studies for infected, treated animal
tissues in BSL-3 and providing drug pharmacodynamics. The strategic mission for Operation and Use of the
RBL and the three Cores is to provide a seamless and integrated management and operational structure that
efficiently serves its clients and users with the appropriate facility controls, biosafety and select agent
compliance. Our strategic vision in this regard is to provide leadership for the RBL network and scientific
community and share best practices and discoveries through lectures and publications.
