Our Mission

The mission of the Galveston National Laboratory is to assist the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the nation in the development of an improved means for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of potentially life-threatening diseases caused by naturally emerging and purposefully disseminated infectious agents.

We seek to accomplish this aim by carrying out cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research into the causes, modes of transmission, and mechanisms of infectious diseases.  This work includes studies aimed at developing a more holistic understanding of the biology and ecology of these diseases, their causes, interactions, influences, potential and nature - allowing for the translation of this knowledge into practical measures that can improve human health.

We understand that these aims can only be achieved by bringing the broadest possible array of scientific disciplines to focus on these problems, including not only microbiology, virology, and cellular and molecular immunology, but also field investigation, epidemiology, vector ecology, pathology, molecular genetics, molecular biology, human and pathogen genomics and proteomics, structural and chemical biology, systems and computational biology, and clinical medicine.

We will also utilize the laboratory’s unique biocontainment resources to assist where possible in the evaluation and validation of products and preventives for infectious diseases – and we will work collaboratively with both federal agencies and non-federal entities in accomplishing this goal.

The GNL aims to be the pre-eminent resource within the United States for the safe conduct of essential infectious disease research. We will accomplish this goal by maintaining impeccable, explicit, and transparent safety standards at all levels of biological containment, consistent with federal laws and guidelines, and we will not tolerate the involvement of those who do not fully respect, acknowledge and honor those standards.

We acknowledge the unique opportunity of the GNL to train the scientific teams of the future that will be needed to address the continuing challenge of emerging infectious diseases, and we place the professional training of scientists and support staff at all levels high among our goals.

Infectious diseases know no political boundaries.  As a society, we must prepare to combat these emerging diseases by being vigilant in our research efforts, and by investing in the kinds of laboratory facilities that the GNL will provide.  The sound science and novel findings at work here contribute directly to our safety, as well as the safety of the global community in which we live.