Location: Operations
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Develop the workforce needed to for the scientific staff at NBAF through implementation of research projects, training programs and other collaborations.
Approach
There is a shortage of qualified scientists, including the availability of doctors of veterinary medicine (DVM) with a Ph.D degree, to conduct animal health research at the NBAF when the facilities become available in 2022. This will be addressed by specifically training scientists in the following seven core scientific disciplines: pathology, virology, immunology, entomology, epidemiology, microbiology, and computational biology. The objective and desired outcome is a mechanism to ensure a viable and qualified scientific workforce is available to implement a program to recruit and train scientists with expertise in biodefense research, with a focus on foreign and emerging animal diseases, including dangerous zoonotic pathogens. The mechanism for training scientists in biodefense research will be established in collaboration with the guidance of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. ARS does not presently have high containment facilities (BSL-3E, BSL-3Ag,and BSL-4) to train biodefense research scientists in Manhattan, Kansas. (However, through collaboration with Kansas state University, BSL-3Ag laboratories are available.) Therefore, the research projects needed to obtain a doctoral degree in one of the seven core scientific disciplines listed in the previous section will be conducted at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), Orient Point, New York, and/or the research facilities of collaborators contributing to the implementation of the ARS biodefense research programs.
Progress Report
Objective 1. Develop the workforce needed for the scientific staff at National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) through implementation of research projects, training programs and other collaborations.
Within this project NBAF created a short course for students to become exposed to research animal support particularly in biocontainment. To date, NBAF’s training coordinator has had regular recurring meetings with Texas A&M University’s training specialist, for the purposes of planning and preparing the training content. The target audience are individuals who have education in animal care but may not have awareness of animal caretaking for research studies as a known option. The course development includes basic biosafety/biocontainment principles, animal husbandry principles, animal welfare and anesthesia principles, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and animal welfare regulations, etc. These two coordinators share the workload and have coordinated on resources and references so Texas’s coordinator can make progress on the work. This meets the overall Objective of the project which is to increase awareness and expand practical training opportunities for careers within agricultural and biocontainment research with livestock.
This project also has also worked to develop a Biological Safety Level 3 (BSL-3) Training Program for Research Support Personnel. In order to staff ARS’s biocontainment research laboratories, there is a need to create a highly trained workforce capable of working at BSL-3 and higher levels. The workforce needs to include research support staff and collaborators. This program will expose BS/MS/DVM, PhD level personnel to a BSL-3 (high containment) research environment as a potential career choice; to increase awareness of general biosecurity practices when dealing with select agents; and to incorporate aspects of cyber vulnerability prevention in the laboratory. The 2022 course was successfully run with 10 students from across the United States. The final course in 2024 has just concluded. Many students from this course have gone on to pursue careers related to transboundary animal diseases.
In July 2022, the USDA ARS and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Research Institute entered into an agreement to develop a certificate program to increase the number of qualified biosafety professionals needed to support the life sciences sector. The need for biosafety professional has expanded with the growth of the bioeconomy. As the bioeconomy grows, life science institutions will need to address biosafety and biosecurity concerns but often lack the necessary tools, capacity, and research support staff, such as employing competent biorisk management professionals. The goal of this program is to prepare graduates that will be competitive for entry-level biosafety and/or biorisk management positions in many different fields.
Accomplishments
1. Animal care technician training plan. A training coordinator at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) and a training content specialist at Texas A&M University identified content and references to support training content in preparation for the execution of a short course covering basic biosafety and biocontainment principles, animal husbandry principles, animal welfare and anesthesia principles, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and animal welfare regulation. This training is critical to accomplish the expected results of the project.
2. Transboundary disease course 2024. This course was successfully completed with the support of Kansas State University.
3. Biosafety certificate program with IUP University. Received curriculum approval through IUP University wide curriculum committee and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
4. Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity certificate program. The first biosafety course in the program occurred in Spring 2024.
5. Biosafety certificate program development of a 2024 Marketing Plan. Presenting information on the Certificate Program at various professional venues (USDA ARS Symposium, American Biological Safety Association International Conference, Central PA Safety Conference.