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2015 ChABSA Pre-Symposium Workshops 

June 16, 2015

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ChABSA is pleased to offer this year's pre-symposium workshops.

 

Fundamentals of a Biosafety Management Program (Bob Hawley and Joe Kozlovac) 4 hour course

Each participant will be able to initiate and manage a biological safety program as a result of completing this course and implementing the principles described.  We will discuss biosafety program vision, mission, goals, policies, risk assessment and management, training and education activities.  We will also discuss the proposed structure and functions of a biosafety committee and mechanisms to review and evaluate program effectiveness. We will conduct group exercises that will allow participants to incorporate the principles and recommendations discussed during the lectures.

 

Overview of Biotoxins with Potential as Bioweapons (Vinod Jyothikumar) 4 hour

Biological toxins are highly diverse and produced in nature by a wide variety of organisms. A number of key features favor the potential threat of these biotoxins as bioterror agents, including their high potency, the relatively long latency period before symptoms are manifested, the difficulty in detecting or diagnosing their presence and identity, and their relative ease in production and stability in the environment. All of these features also create major challenges in developing tools and reagents to combat toxin-mediated diseases. A vigilant and robust biotoxin research community must be mobilized to not only better characterize the existing biotoxins but also to anticipate new variants or entirely new biotoxins that might arise and to develop appropriate antitoxin countermeasures. In addition, a definitive roadmap must also be formulated for safe, documented, and controlled handling of biotoxins during basic research and during development of toxin-based therapeutics for biomedical applications.

 

Techniques for Improving Support for Your Biosafety Program (Bob Emery, Rachel Gamble, Bruce Brown, Scott Patlovich) 8 hour

A recurrent challenge for biosafety professionals is the ability to garner necessary program resources. The basis for this difficulty is that on a good day in the world of biosafety, “nothing happens”, so upper management may not fully appreciate or understand all of the effort that went into making “nothing happen”. Biosafety professionals in particular experience difficulty in this regard because many in the profession have received intensive training in the biological sciences, but little or no training in the area of program management. This course will focus on some key management techniques that can be used within biosafety programs to help improve stakeholder understanding of the program and its activities, which in turn can result in the provision of necessary programmatic resources. Numerous real world examples of successful applications of the techniques discussed will be displayed for review and discussion. Ample time will be provided throughout the course for participant inquiries.


 

Engineering Toolbox for the Biosafety Officer (Juan Osorio, Ted Traum, Diego Osorio) 8 hour

Proactive biosafety professionals need to be involved and knowledgeable in the operation, maintenance and certification/engineering validation of their containment facilities and building systems. The biosafety professional’s training and experience is usually limited to the sciences and they often lack the knowledge of basic engineering principles. This course is intended to provide fundamental engineering principles that are useful in the monitoring, operating and troubleshooting a BSL-3 facility. 

The course will provide information relevant to BSL-3 facilities for the determination of air change rates, define HVAC containment boundaries, interpret design drawings, understand HEPA filtration, provide an introduction in determining room heat loads and ventilation rates, concepts in directional airflow and its recommended values and room pressure differentials as well as an introduction to HVAC components (i.e. isolation valves, control valves, fast acting actuators etc.). Case studies and lessons learned would be presented for a range of BSL-3 laboratories that are validated by The National Institutes of Health, Office For Research Services, Division of Occupational Health and Safety, Safety Engineering Activity. Building on this information, there will be a step-by-step presentation on certification/engineering validation per the NIH BSL-3  Requirements  and  Checklist,  maintenance  and operation.