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t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 7 t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 help in sharing the information with the community at large. A seven-member GNL Community Liaison Committee also meets regularly, acting as UTMB's eyes and ears in the community as well as a sounding board. "The Shope Laboratory was a revolutionary thing—it proved that we could run a BSL4 laboratory safely and securely," said Walker. "After the community had accepted us, I hired consultants and brought groups of people here on a regular basis, people who ran labs like this at other places like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and they helped us figure out how to proceed." In spite of the tremendous success of the Shope Lab, it wasn't large enough to conduct certain types of experi- ments, especially those that involved work with animals larger than rodents. In the wake of September 11th and the subsequent anthrax attacks, the United States government vied for the creation of more facilities to provide research to help defend against bio- terrorism attacks. Under the direction of the U.S. Congress, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH) began a nationwide search for a location to build a National Biocontainment Laboratory. "The Shope Lab was running around the same time that we drafted our application, and the committee that determines the funding for these types of programs came to visit for a site inspection," said Weaver. "They came down, and, lo and behold, a tropical storm was coming through. Some people thought that this was the worst possible luck, but the university was still open for business and the lab was running smoothly. I think that helped us convince them that we can build these facilities safe enough to with- stand any storm." One of two National Biocontainment Laboratories constructed with fund- ing awarded in October 2003 by the NIAID/NIH, the Galveston National Laboratory broke ground in 2005. The sturdy foundations of UTMB's new facility would be unexpectedly put to the test several years later, when Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast in 2008. "Hurricane Ike was devastat- ing," said Walker. "But there was one really good outcome, an unmitigated, beneficial effect: it proved that the GNL had been designed appropri- ately. It was the only building that was completely undamaged. Everyone was criticizing us for building a BSL4 lab on a barrier island that's constantly hit by hurricanes, but this proved that we had designed our facility soundly and it could function safely." The GNL was formally dedicated just a few short months after the hurricane, and has been running ever since. Propelled forward by a critical mass of expertise, and drawing from the richness of the academic community, infectious disease research at UTMB has consistently tread new territory. Earlier this year, Thomas Geisbert, Ph.D., a UTMB professor of microbiol- ogy and immunology, received a $26 million grant for Ebola research, work of critical importance as nations struggle to deal with the current out- break in Africa. Courtesy of a $4.4 mil- lion grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and led by co-principal investigator Slobodan Paessler, DMV, Ph.D., a professor in the UTMB department of pathology, researchers are working to create a universal flu vaccine—one that could eliminate the need for an annual flu shot. At a time when research budgets are under stress, UTMB received more than $76 million in NIH funding for federal fiscal year 2013. "It's all about the people here," said Joan Nichols, Ph.D., associate director of research and operations for the GNL and an expert on influenza. "It's great that we built this incredible building, but it wasn't until we commissioned it and brought the scott Weaver, Ph.d. James Leduc, Ph.d. the complexity and redundancy in our systems ensures that we're secure because we take great care in making sure that everything that leaves the laboratory is completely inactive, whether it's in the wastewater or the air that you breathe. — James leDUc, Ph.D. director of the Galveston National Laboratory people in that we started to see the magic happen, which is what drives scientific discoveries." "What's unique about the Galveston National Laboratory, as well as all of our other research facilities, is that they're such high functioning entities on a university campus," added Walker. "It's mutually beneficial, but I think that the GNL benefits even more from being at a university than the other way around. Adding up those benefits, it's amazing to have all of these colleagues right next door with the ability to interact with one another. The collegial spirit that we've cultivated is less common than you might initially imagine. I've seen it grow a lot in my time here." Imparting that collegial mindset upon future generations, the National Biodefense Training Center at UTMB is poised to become a prime site for training aspiring researchers to work in BSL3 and BSL4 facilities across the country. At the juncture between the private and the federal world and embedded in a textured academic community, UTMB's research facil- ities provide incredible value, from the microcosm of the local Galveston community to the macrocosm of global infectious disease research. "We really are a national resource," said LeDuc. "We have a lot of bright folks here that are doing remarkable work, which could propel us into collaborations with others across the nation and around the world, using these facilities to address larger issues. The idea is for the Galveston National Laboratory to inter- face with the greater academic commu- nity to conduct those experiments that require access to live pathogens. That's really our sweet spot."