The investigators at the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) are known around the world for both their basic research and their translational discoveries related to existing and emerging infectious diseases.
Operational support for the GNL is provided, in part, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an agency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additional support for operations of the lab is provided by the State of Texas. Individual research projects are funded by grants, contracts, and collaborative relationships with other universities, biomedical companies and agencies around the world.
Fast Facts:
The University of Texas Medical Branch opened the first BSL4 laboratory on a U.S. College campus -- the Shope Lab, prior to winning the bid to build the national lab.
Construction of the national lab cost $173.6 million, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the State of Texas and private donors.
More than 165 research projects take place each year at the highest level of containment, and there are more researchers working at high containment at the GNL than in any laboratory in the world.
Researchers focus on developing diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics, as well as learning about the pathology of emerging infectious diseases.
The GNL is home to the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses, a collection of more than 7,000 different strains of more than 600 different viruses. This reference center provides research samples to laboratories around the world.
UTMB serves as an international resource for training laboratory personnel to work safely in high containment. To date, the International Biosafety Training Center at UTMB has trained scientists, lab technicians, biosafety professionals, regulatory agency employees, animal care staff, and other personnel from more than 30 countries and 70 universities, federal laboratories and regulatory agencies around the world.