Kansas State’s new lab on front lines of biosecurity

Randy Phebus, food microbiologist and professor of food safety and security at Kansas State University, didn’t get much of a response when he first proposed the idea of a new lab that would aim to protect the nation’s food supply.

He and other researchers made a presentation to the Senate in 1999 to make a case for why the country needed such a center.

“There was a lot of yawning that day by the panel of officials,” he said.

But then came Sept. 11, 2001.

“And all of a sudden, there were a lot of people paying attention.”

Now the new $50-million Biosecurity Research Institute, a full-size, agricultural and food safety biosecurity laboratory, is scheduled to open soon at Kansas State.

Researchers there, led by Phebus, will study pathogens considered possible terrorist weapons, including anthrax, and staphylococcus and botulinum toxins. The laboratory has a live animal holding area, a slaughter floor, meat processing equipment and the capability to bring in objects as large as an airplane cabin for contamination and de-contamination experiments.

The new lab is also Biosafety Level 3, the second-highest laboratory security level in the U.S. It is assigned to laboratories that use toxic agents that may cause serious or potentially lethal disease as a result of inhalation.

The highest level, Biosafety Level 4, is reserved for labs that handle the most dangerous agents, including fatal viruses without cures, such as ebola, and toxins for which there are no antidotes. Those products will not be handled at Kansas State.

The university’s older food safety lab is a Level 2, which handles less dangerous agents and smaller amounts of contaminants.

“In the old lab, we might have a small vial of bacteria and be doing tests on small quantities of foods,” Phebus said. “In here, we’re talking about being able to spray the entire carcass of a cow with a pathogen such as anthrax or botulinum.”

Much of the lab’s work will be validating processes or technologies for the government, other research institutions or commercial food companies.

Among the initial substances studied in the lab will be the anthrax bacteria, toxins produced by the staphylococcus bacteria and the potent nerve toxins produced by the botulinum bacteria.

Researchers will also conduct extensive tests of the avian influenza virus, he said.

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