Biological containment labs

The Sunshine Project (http //www hammond sunshine-project.org P.O. Box 41987, Austin, Texas 78704) keeps track of biological containment labs in the United States. This group published a listing of High Containment Labs and Other Facilities of the US Biodefense Program in November of 2004 (biological containment labs 3 and 4 not known to be heavily dedicated to bio-defense are not indicated on the listing). 

The feds have just a rough idea of how much bio-containment lab-space is necessary, how much it will cost to run these eleven labs each year, or how to handle and train new scientists in a safe fashion. There is just a lack of competent research staff at the present time to deal with Category A and Category B biological agents. 

The Solid Sample Store is an automated sample bank facilitating storage and random access retrieval of glass vials containing powder samples. The preparation of the HTS library starts with the tedious process to prepare new solutions from the solid-compound collection. The Solid Sample Store assembles and provides the powder samples for the preparation of the HTS master solutions of defined molar concentration in pure, water-free DMSO. It is also used for the supply of powder samples to medicinal chemistry and biology labs. 

Calmodulin (CaM) is a ubiquitous intracellular protein that mediates more than 100 different biological systems in both calcium-free and -loaded forms. CaM has 148 amino acids and its primary sequence is highly conserved in all cell types. It shares strong sequence and stmcture homology to TnC, which is involved solely in the Calcimn-dependent regulation of skeletal and heart muscle contraction. Yeast (yCaM) is 60% identical in sequence to vertebrate CaMs and contains only three functional sites. Several labs have shown that the prokaryotes have several CaM-like proteins containing two or more authentic EF-hand motifs. ... 

White JL, Hem SL. Characterization of aluminum-containing adjuvants. In Brown F, Corbel M, Griffiths E, eds. Physico-Chemical Procedures for the Characterization of Vaccines, lABS Symposia Series, Development in Biologicals. New York Karger, 2000 103 217-228. 

An innovative electrochemical lab on a chip system has been developed by Popovtzer et al. (2006) for the measurement of microbial responses to toxic chemicals. The miniaturized device was designed in two parts to enable multiple measurements a disposable silicon chip containing an array of nano-volume electrochemical cells that house the biological material, and a reusable unit that includes a multiplexer and a potentiostat connected to a pocket PC for sensing and data analysis. 

Buckets, tubs, funnels, and all sorts of containers of this whitish, opaque, pliable plastic can be found for pennies at any discount or grocery store. These containers are stackable, easy to clean, never break and will save a chemist a fortune in glassware. As was mentioned earlier, plastic ware is starting to make its mark in biological and chemical labs. Buchner funnels, side arm flasks, graduated cylinders and even separatory funnels come in PP and PE. These glassware substitutes are the absolute choice for today s chemists as they are unwatched, versatile and 1/10 the cost of glass. If the chemist is unsure what plastic a container is then she can look for the letters PP or PE somewhere on the product. 

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