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 the form found under the GNL tab on this website

Conference Facilities and Security Access to 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 badged access to the GNL laboratory complex are required to go through a background check managed by UTMB Police.

Visitor Request Forms must be completed at least three days prior to visiting the facility (for US residents) and at least 10 days prior to visiting for international guests.  

All visitors who are approved by UTMB police for entry will be escorted throughout their entire visit. Visitors 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. No visitors are 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 Chief Ken Adcox. 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).