National Bio & Agro-Defense Facility
Location: Manhattan, Kan.
Client: Kansas Bioscience Authority
Completion Date: Estimated 2014
The proposed 520,000-square-foot facility will provide animal testing capability needed for the licensure of the human disease vaccines, defend against high-consequence human and foreign animal diseases in livestock, and provide the essential Department of Homeland Security (DHS) infrastructure requirements for threat characterization, forensics and detection.
The National Bio & Agro-Defense Facility will be staffed with hundreds of scientist who will research threats to the nation’s food supply and diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans. The high-tech facility is intended to speed detection of outbreaks as well as devise vaccines or other measures to counter them.
- Site design and layout
- Conceptual building design for Leavenworth and Manhattan, Kan., sites
The facility will enhance bio-defense by modernizing and integrating high-security facilities, enhancing the nation’s capacity to assess potential threats to humans and animals alike. The facility will:
- Serve as a unique Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 and BSL 4 livestock laboratory capable of developing countermeasures for foreign animal diseases that are investigated at the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
- Provide advanced test and evaluation capability for threat detection, vulnerability and countermeasure assessment for animal and zoonotic diseases
- Support licensure of vaccine countermeasures developed by Bioshield through essential animal model testing and evaluation
