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This Winnipeg based state-of-the art laboratory complex is
jointly operated by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency.
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It houses the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s National
Centre for Foreign Animal Disease as well as the Public Health Agency of
Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory.
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As the first facility in the world to combine laboratories for
human and animal disease research at the highest level of biocontainment, it
provides a unique environment in which researchers can collaborate as they
study established, emerging and re-emerging diseases of both humans and
animals.
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The facility contains Canada's only Containment Level 4 (CL
4) laboratories, providing the capability to work safely with the most serious
human and animal diseases.
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The CL 4
laboratories ensure Canada’s diagnostic capabilities for any known disease
agent that may be brought into the country. It also enables research into these
deadly diseases, including the Ebola, Marburg and Nipah viruses, to identify
just a few. The BSL4 laboratories also allow scientists to work safely with new
agents prior to their biosafety classification.
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Sixty-one percent of laboratory space is Containment Level 2,
while 35% is dedicated to Containment Level 3 laboratories. The CL 4 laboratories represent less than 4% of the
laboratory area.
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CL 3 and 4
laboratory areas contain airtight rooms and ductwork, and feature interlocking
and airtight bio-seal doors and damper systems. Air-locks for entry and exit
maintain negative air pressures to direct air inward, ensuring organisms being
studied remain in the laboratory.
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Air exiting the laboratories is filtered using High Efficiency
Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration. HEPA units can filter out particles
85 times smaller than the smallest known disease-causing agent.
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Solid and liquid waste sterilization is accomplished in part
through a 20,000 litre liquid sterilization system and a specially-designed
autoclave to heat and break down solid waste.
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Three 1000-kilowatt generators handle emergency power back-up to
all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and to essential life
safety systems.
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A new Operations Centre (OC) was recently launched in the
facility with a high tech communications network that can incorporate
laboratory results and coordinate information from various networks and
surveillance. The OC can respond
quickly and effectively to calls for assistance from provincial and territorial
governments, other Government of Canada departments as well as international
health organizations during a disease outbreak, natural disaster or
human-caused emergency.
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Currently over 400 Government of Canada employees work at the
complex.
