Leading infectious disease contract research organization (CRO) Microbiologics has announced an expansion of their Biosafety Level 3 laboratory spaces at the company’s Global Virology Center in San Diego, California. Biological Safety Levels (BSL) are ranked from BSL-1, representing the lowest risk pathogens, such as Bacillus cereus, to BSL-4, representing the highest risk pathogens, such as Ebola virus. The BSL-3 risk group includes pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Microbiologics supports the research and development of infectious disease diagnostic technology and anti-infective drugs, therapeutics, and vaccines by providing biological reference materials, assay services, and consulting for microbiology, molecular diagnostics, and virology.

Microbiologics acquired and renovated a 43,000-square-foot building near its original Global Virology Center in the Mira Mesa biotechnology area of San Diego to facilitate the expansion. The new facility features multiple BSL-3 containment laboratory spaces spanning over 2,000 square feet, including a designated campaign suite for highly sensitive projects. These BSL-3 containment laboratories feature unidirectional air flow using room pressure gradients of negative pressure, biosafety cabinets, and antechambers to allow proper donning of personal protective equipment (PPE), including respirators. Microbiologics has additional BSL-3 certified laboratory space at their St. Cloud, Minnesota-based World Headquarters.

“Demand for our BSL-3 services continues to grow, and limited laboratory space was soon going to constrain our ability to support the industry,” says Microbiologics Chief Executive Officer, Kristen Knox. “The new San Diego facility allows us to grow alongside our partners. We aim to be the approachable experts our partners can rely on throughout the drug development process,” Knox added.

Microbiologics is known for its expertise with an expansive portfolio of BSL-3 infectious agents, including Vaccinia, SARS-CoV-2, Mpox, MTB, HIV, West Nile, and Chikungunya. They specialize in high-titer live, inactivated, and recombinant virus production and are the leading experts in influenza propagation in eggs. They also offer a wide range of high-throughput standard and custom assay services for evaluating anti-infective agents.

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