Biosecurity

A major component of operating a high containment research laboratory is ensuring that access to biological agents, particularly select agents, is tightly controlled. 

Independent access to the Galveston National Laboratory is available only to those employees and students with regular business inside the GNL. Access is typically requested by faculty or GNL leadership and is approved after appropriate screening by UTMB Police. To request access to the GNL, download and complete this form.

Conference Facilities at the GNL

The GNL conference room and other meeting spaces in the facility are routinely used for seminars and meetings that may involve participants from other areas of campus.  Community members and visitors from other universities also have occasion to attend meetings at the GNL. All employees, students and visitors without badge access to the GNL laboratory complex are required to register with the police officers at the main entrance to the GNL where a copy of their official photo identification (driver’s license, passport or other official documentation) is made. 

All visitors who are approved by UTMB police for entry will receive a temporary identification badge that must be worn at all times during their stay in the facility. Visitors must pass through a metal detector, and all carried items will be screened. On exiting the facility, visitors return their temporary badge prior to their exit. While inside the GNL, all visitors are escorted, and they are not allowed to enter laboratory spaces where work with infectious biological select agents is being conducted.

In addition, no photography is allowed inside the GNL/Keiller laboratory complex

Security for the GNL is the responsibility of the UTMB Police Department, which is led by Interim-Chief Ruben Puente. The UTMB Police Department is part of an elite group of law enforcement agencies that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).