The facilities of the National Virus Reference Laboratory have recently been expanded. The new facility was built in conjunction with the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) located at UCD, which is a facility for specialist research into the pathogenesis and treatment of emerging and existing viral diseases.

The Biosafety Level Three plus (BL3+) containment laboratory has been built to facilitate the investigation of agents requiring high levels of containment such as
  • Agents associated with Viral heamorrhagic fevers
  • Agents and specifically viruses, which may be employed in bioterrorism such as orthopox viruses.
  • Arboviral infections
  • Emerging viral pathogens such as CoV SARS and influenza viruses including avian and pandemic viruses
  • Flaccid paralysis investigation post polio virus eradication

The containment laboratory was designed to operate safely and meet the requirements of the ACDP (Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens) Guidelines for the management, design and operation of microbiological containment laboratories. The Health Protection Agency, Centre for Applied Microbiology & Research (CAMR) at Porton Down was consulted at all stages of the planning, building and commissioning of the laboratory and recently certified the laboratory is suitable for the investigation of highly infectious material.

There are three main issues to consider;
  • Laboratory containment
  • Waste disposal
  • Security – laboratory and personal
Laboratory containment

Microbiological containment consists of

Primary containment: Protection of the worker and the immediate environment. This is achieved by:
  • Appropriate training
  • The use of microbiological safety cabinets (MSC)
  • Immunisation when applicable
In the laboratory there are two microbiological safety cabinets (class I and class I/ III) which were installed and validated to the appropriate standards (BS2646, BS3970 & BS 12469 respectively).

The class III MSC is used for laboratory procedures when dealing with agents requiring very high levels of containment. When required the class I/III hybrid can be put into class III mode and the secure transfer of materials and specimens can occur via the transfer hatches between the cabinets as seen above.


Secondary containment: Protection of the people and the environment outside the laboratory. This is achieved by
  • Good laboratory design
The laboratory is a completely self-sufficient contained suite consisting of a single operating laboratory entered sequentially through an outer entrance lobby, shower cubicle and inner gowning lobby. All doors are interlocked so as to maintain pressure controls and therefore only one door can be opened at any time. A traffic light system controls entry through successive doors.
The laboratory is a completely self-sufficient contained suite consisting of a single operating laboratory entered sequentially through an outer entrance lobby, shower cubicle and inner gowning lobby. All doors are interlocked so as to maintain pressure controls and therefore only one door can be opened at any time. A traffic light system controls entry through successive doors.
OL: Outer lobby
S: Shower
IL: Inner Lobby
LAB: Laboratory
The outer lobby is positively pressurised relative to the outside corridor (minimum +15Pa) and the laboratory operates at negative pressure (min. –35Pa) relative to atmosphere to ensure containment. The laboratory has dimensions of 6.35 x 4.47 metres giving a floor area of 28.3m2 and a room volume of 85m3 (ceiling height= 3.0 metres).

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