News: Launch of BSL-3 facility to bolster national fight against COVID-19 and future pandemics

By Kimberley Wang, Manager, Media and Publications, Communications and Outreach

To bolster Singapore’s efforts to fight COVID-19 and prepare for the next big biological threat, LKCMedicine launched a new Biosafety Level 3 laboratory (BSL-3) on 2 December designed for research into pandemic viruses and deadly bacterial infections.

Hosted at the Experimental Medicine Building on NTU Singapore’s Yunnan Campus, the BSL-3 facility will allow the safe handling of bacteria and viruses that are serious or lethal, such as those that cause COVID-19, tuberculosis, and avian flu.

At this facility, researchers will be able to safely process samples from infected patients to study the impact of the disease on the immune system, test for the pathogen’s transmissibility, and develop vaccines and diagnostic tools – activities that can only be done in a highly contained environment due to the pathogen’s infectious nature. 

Guest-of-Honour Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, launched the BSL-3 facility together with LKCMedicine Dean Professor Joseph Sung.

Prof Sung, who is also NTU Senior Vice-President (Health and Life Sciences), said, “Over the past two years of the pandemic, NTU and other institutions here have stepped up and played a role in managing the virus. As we emerge from the pandemic, it is important to remember the lessons we have learnt and prepare for the next disease that will hit us.

“NTU LKCMedicine is proud to continue contributing to Singapore’s efforts to fight COVID-19 and future biological threats by providing a safe facility to quickly identify high-risk pathogens as early as possible and develop reliable diagnostics, stemming disease transmission early.”

A/Prof Mak was heartened to note the successful construction and certification of the facility. He said, “NTU researchers now have greater access to a dedicated facility, with its specialised engineering set-up and infrastructure, that allows them to safely expand their research into infectious diseases and in particular, focusing on pathogens which may be easily spread through the airborne transmission mode, and which may be of higher virulence. This includes infections like melioidosis, tuberculosis, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and COVID-19.”

At the event, Director of the Respiratory and Infectious Diseases Programme and Facility Operator of the BSL-3 lab, Professor Laurent Rénia also shared his vision for the facility followed by a screening of a video of a virtual tour of the lab. It comes amid scientists’ warning that the world could in the future be hit by a more severe ‘Disease X’ – a new, unknown disease that is highly infectious, deadly, and mutates easily. 

The facility will allow NTU LKCMedicine researchers to work closely with clinician-scientists at the National Healthcare Group and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases to respond more quickly and effectively in the fight against deadly pathogens and in the event of an infectious disease outbreak. It will be an important partner with a role to play in Singapore’s Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE), which pulls together pandemic research experts from various fields to respond to future infectious disease outbreaks.

Professor Wang Linfa, Executive Director of PREPARE, said, “There are many lessons we learnt from the national response to COVID-19. One of them is the importance of biocontainment facilities for research purposes and the national co-ordination of their operations. PREPARE is very keen to work with the new NTU LKCMedicine BSL-3 facility in the context of establishing a more efficient national BSL-3 network both during peace time and in response to future outbreaks.”

The facility will also allow the NTU research community to advance its infectious diseases research into other lethal bacteria and viruses.

LKCMedicine Vice-Dean (Research) Professor Lim Kah Leong highlighted how the lab will contribute to driving impactful research. “The opening of the BSL-3 facility at NTU provides a ‘timely booster’ to advance greater research collaboration on infectious diseases at LKCMedicine, with the ultimate goal to develop innovative diagnostic tools, vaccines, and therapeutics not only for COVID, but also other deadly diseases such as tuberculosis and melioidosis,” he said. 

As Facility Operator, Prof Rénia will oversee the management of the facility and make sure that all health, safety, and environmental regulations are in place. He is assisted by a BSL-3 Biosafety Committee (BSC) chaired by LKCMedicine’s Associate Professor of Infectious Disease Kevin Pethe. The Committee will review all scientific projects using the BSL3 Lab to make sure they are in line with health, safety and environmental regulations.