Syracuse gets $7.6 million lab to study deadly infections, head off next pandemic
Updated Mar 12, 2021;
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Syracuse, N.Y. – A $7.6 million lab designed to let researchers safely work with potentially deadly infections such as Covid-19, Lyme disease and West Nile virus opened today at SUNY Upstate Medical University.
It is the first level-3 biosafety lab at Upstate and the only one in the SUNY system statewide.
Researchers will use the facility, known as the Vector Biocontainment Lab, to develop an anti-tick vaccine and other treatments to fight diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks.
The facility is equipped with incubators that can generate hundreds of mosquitoes and ticks. Researchers can infect mosquito cells with viruses and bacteria inside enclosed biosafety cabinets.