Cdc Lab Set to Break Ground ; W. Nile, Biosecurity Spurred Expansion of Fort Collins Facility

Construction is about to begin on an $80 million Fort Collins infectious diseases and bioterrorism laboratory to replace a worn- out, overcrowded structure built in 1967.

The new four-story Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory will enable federal researchers to expand their studies of West Nile virus and three of the government’s “agents of highest concern” for bioterrorism: plague, tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalitis.

About 180 researchers work in the current Fort Collins CDC lab, which was designed to hold 50 people.

Federal officials have talked about building a bigger Fort Collins lab for years. But it took the West Nile epidemic and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to make it a reality, said Dr. Lyle Petersen, the lab’s director.

The building is known as CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Laboratory. Vectors are organisms, such as mosquitoes, ticks and fleas, that transmit diseases.

“West Nile literally brought home the importance of vector-borne diseases, which are scourges worldwide,” Petersen said. “And 9/11 renewed interest in biosecurity, highlighting the need to have upgraded facilities here.”

Groundbreaking for the new building is set for Aug. 12. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding will attend.

The new building will be next to the current CDC lab on a 22- acre site leased from Colorado State University. The lab is on CSU’s Foothills Campus west of downtown Fort Collins.

The new facility will be more than four times bigger than the 1967 structure.

The CDC has four types of infectious-disease laboratories, designated as Biosafety Levels 1 through 4. The 156,000-square-foot building will include Biosafety Level 2 and 3 labs.

The most dangerous and exotic pathogens – such as the Ebola and Marburg viruses – require Level 4 labs. All of the CDC’s Level 4 labs are in Atlanta.

Level 3 labs are used for microbes with the potential for aerosol transmission. These labs feature specialized ventilation systems to minimize the chances of release.

Level 2 labs handle infectious microbes of moderate risk, such as hepatitis B and salmonella.

Across the street from the CDC facility, CSU plans to build a $24 million, federally funded lab for the study of potential bioterrorism agents and naturally occurring infectious diseases. Construction of the 33,850-square-foot “regional biocontainment laboratory” is set to begin in November 2005.

About two-thirds of the space will be devoted to Level 3 labs, said Hank Gardner, CSU’s associate vice president for research.

The new lab will allow CSU researchers to expand existing research programs in West Nile virus, hantavirus, tuberculosis, dengue and the SARS coronavirus, Gardner said.

“I can’t think of another place on the planet that has the kind of focused expertise in vector-borne infectious diseases that we have here,” he said.