NEIDL in the News
Hurdles Remain For South End Infectious Disease Lab
WBUR 4/19/12 By Bob Oakes (@bob_oakes) and Lynn Jolicoeur BOSTON — The names of deadly pathogens, such as Ebola, anthrax and plague, are enough to make some Boston residents shudder and say, “Not in my backyard.” And at a National Institutes of Health meeting at Roxbury Community College Thursday night, the public will... More
BSL-2 Research to Start at BU Biolab
Initial research to focus on tuberculosis More
NIH Plans Public Meeting to Solicit Comments on Supplementary Draft Risk Assessment for the NEIDL
NIH is accepting public comments on the Draft Supplementary Risk Assessment through May 1, 2012, and is holding a public meeting on Thursday, April 19, 2012, in order to solicit comments only on the Draft Supplementary Risk Assessment. The meeting will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at... More
Iris Scans and Spacesuits: Inside the BU Biolab
By Toni Waterman (from WGBH), January 11, 2012 BOSTON — One of the first things you’ll notice about the highly controversial Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories... a.k.a. the biolab... is that it’s hard to get into. Park in a back lot, go through a security checkpoint, pass along... More
South End Bio-Lab Could Open Soon
By Delores Handy (from WBUR), January 10, 2012 BOSTON — After years of protests and legal challenges, Boston University’s seven-story bio-lab in the South End could open soon. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino led neighborhood and civic leaders on a tour through the building Tuesday. The tour was designed to alleviate safety fears over the... More
Mayor Menino Approves the BU Biolab: Ebola and the Plague Head to the South End
By Lauren Landry (From BostInno), January 11, 2012 The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), better known as the Boston University Biolab, has been controversial from the get-go. Located on the University’s medical campus in the South End, you can guess from the lab’s name alone why people in the... More
A peek inside the BU biolab
By Michael Naughton (From Metro), January 10, 2012 The Boston University biolab has been causing nerves to shake ever since plans to construct the South End facility were announced. Now, as some research is set to begin at the $200 million lab, officials are attempting to soothe the nerves by... More
Inside BU’s maximum-security ‘biolab’
Original video report by Peter Howell (From NECN.com), January 10, 2012 Is the middle of Boston the right place for a laboratory researching some of the world's deadliest bacteria and microbes. Boston University has been arguing for years its maximum security biolab facility will be safe and bring hundreds of jobs. More
Controversial Biolab Set To Open
Boston City Officals Tour BU Lab From WCVB, January 10, 2012 BOSTON -- It's been controversial from the get go. Ever since Boston University revealed plans to do research on the world's deadliest diseases, neighbors of the South End facility have had safety concerns.Now years after debate, it is closer... More
Risk assessment, public meetings on BU biolab in progress
By Emily Overholt (From The Daily Free Press), January 18, 2012 The National Institute of Health will release a draft risk assessment on Boston University’s Biosafety Level-4 laboratory and hold meetings in Boston in the coming weeks for locals to voice comments and concerns about the document, university... More
A look inside BU’s Level 4 Biolab
Original video from WGBH, January 17, 2012. Within a year, Boston University’s controversial BioLab could be operational and host to some of the most dangerous germs in the world. Last week, Boston Mayor Tom Menino led a tour of the South End facility to highlight some of the lab’s safety features.
NEIDL Goes Public
BU biosafety labs offer tours to press, politicians By Leslie Friday (From BU Today), January 26, 2012 John R. Murphy and Ronald Corley may be the most highly educated tour guides in Boston. Murphy, a School of Medicine professor of medicine and microbiology, researches the ways that bacterial protein toxins get into... More
Mayor Menino to lead tour of controversial BU biolab in South End
By Kay Lazar (From The Boston Globe), January 9, 2012 BU Biolab Video Mayor Thomas M. Menino will lead a tour of the Boston University biolab tomorrow, accompanied by two dozen neighborhood and civic leaders, in advance of what’s expected to be the federal government’s final decision on whether... More
BU opens Biolab doors for invite-only tour
By Julie M. Donnelly (From Boston Business Journal), January 10, 2012 Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino led a tour Tuesday of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL), better known as the Boston University biolab. The tour was designed to highlight both the safety features and the prospective economic impact of... More
South End biolab can open, with restriction
By Kay Lazar (From The Boston Globe), December 6, 2011 State environmental officials have granted preliminary approval to allow a controversial Boston University laboratory to open for biomedical research with germs less hazardous than those that sparked opposition to the project. In its decision, the state Executive Office of... More
Biolab will become operational in 2012
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs issues green light for low level research, risk assessment nears completion By Kate Vander Wiede (From South End News), December 29, 2011 The end of 2011 saw several victories for the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL, or the Biolab). In... More
BU bio lab review called nearly ready
Boston Globe - Boston, Mass. By Kay Lazar Dec 16, 2011 An independent scientific panel advising the federal government on Boston University's controversial high-security research laboratory has concluded that the latest federal assessment of potential safety risks posed by the lab is significantly improved and nearly ready for public comment. Hours after that panel... More
Green Light for Biosafety Lab
State proposes approval for low-level biosafety research By Art Jahnke (From BU Today), December 6, 2011 The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has announced a draft decision that would allow researchers to conduct lower-level biosafety research in BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) on the Medical Campus in... More
NIH Blue Ribbon Panel Meeting on 11/2
The NIH Blue Ribbon Panel to Advise on the Risk Assessment of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories is meeting with the National Research Council Technical Committee on November 2, 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm to discuss the Draft Supplementary Risk Assessment. For details on the... More
Boston University Plans to Request Permission to Conduct Lower Level Research in NEIDL: BSL-4 Risk Assessment Process to Continue
Boston University Medical Campus For Immediate Release: August 12, 2011 Contact: Ellen Berlin eberlin@webershandwick.com, 617-520-7115 Boston -- Boston University will be asking the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) for permission to conduct lower-level biosafety research in its National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). Construction on the $200... More