Specifically, what bio-agents does NIAID ask be studied at a regional laboratory?
The list of organisms that could be studied at a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory is extensive. The federal government has identified a categorized set of fewer than 30 agents of high priority for research with regard to biodefense and emerging disease (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp). Of these, the proposed Ricketts Laboratory would likely focus on only three to six at a time. The organisms studied at Ricketts would be partly dictated by the science proposed and accepted through the Great Lakes RCE. Other work at the Ricketts Laboratory may be executed by qualified researchers and institutions in the region, or by scientists responding to a regional or national biodefense emergency. The diseases presently considered for work in the facility include anthrax, Dengue fever, influenza, plague, botulism, tuberculosis, tularemia, and West Nile virus. Researchers are expected initially to concentrate on anthrax, plague, tularemia and Dengue fever.
