The British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently published an opinion piece on the need for a global framework for promoting safe handling of high consequence pathogens (doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q1855 published 23 August 2024). Indeed, emerging infectious diseases are on the rise. An active surveillance and proactive pathogen research is critical for preventing pandemics, but must be supported […]

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s recently updated framework for pathogen prioritization highlights a significant shift towards a family -and prototype pathogen-based approach in pandemic preparedness and response research & development. Focusing on entire viral families and one bacterial group, rather than individual pathogens, the report underscores the necessity of global collaboration in research and development, […]

The 2024 BSL4ZNet International Conference is taking place in September 2024. This year’s theme is « Emerging disease meets innovative science« . The Biosafety Level 4 Zoonotic Laboratory Network (BSL4ZNet) is a network of animal and public health organizations from 5 countries. It was established to respond to current and emerging high-consequence bio-threats using a One Health […]

Published in Science – March 14 In his Editorial “Safeguard the world’s worst pathogens” (20 October 2023, p. 243), P. Millett suggests that the proliferation of maximum containment laboratories around the world could put biosafety and biosecurity at risk. In regions such as Europe, however, there are effective safety mechanisms in place that could serve […]

11/01/2024 The INTERCEPTOR project officially commenced today with a kick-off meeting held in Brussels. INTERCEPTOR, short for INTERnational Cooperation of high containment research infrastructures: from Epidemic Preparedness TO Response, is a groundbreaking initiative led by the European Research Infrastructure on Highly pathogenic Agents (ERINHA) in collaboration with key high containment laboratories (HCLs) from Europe and […]