public health preparedness and response
Supporting and Promoting Biosafety Worldwide
by Michael Marsico, MS, senior specialist, Biosafety and Biosecurity
To support APHL’s 2018-2020 Strategic
Map, the Public Health Preparedness
and Response (PHPR) and Biosafety
and Biosecurity (BBC) committees have
increased global activities to “expand
international engagement and learn
from established laboratory systems.”
The committees are contributing to
APHL’s role in implementing global health
security initiatives, as well as defining
how networks such as the African Public
Health Laboratory Network could leverage
the US-managed Laboratory Response
Network model for their own purposes.
BBC members and PHPR staff have
presented biosafety lessons learned
and initiatives to strengthen biosafety
across the US at African Society of
Laboratory Medicine conferences. In
addition, APHL staff have reviewed
and contributed to the development of
biorisk management frameworks, and
convened stakeholders to discuss needs
in biosafety. Other recent global activities
include providing recommendations
for in-country member instructors for
biosafety cabinet certification and other
biosafety courses, as well as developing
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LAB MATTERS Summer 2018
and reviewing presentations on biosafety
and biosecurity, emergency operations—
including incident management
systems—and national laboratory systems
for the Global Health Security Curriculum.
APHL staff, in collaboration with the
Global Health Program, have assisted
Ghana with biosafety activities. Utilizing
the BBC-developed Biorisk Management
for Clinical and Public Health Laboratories
Framework, APHL staff drafted a
preliminary Biorisk Management
Framework for Ghana and plans to work
with the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) Ghana Office, the
Ghana Ministry of Health, Ghana Health
Service and other in-country partners
as wells as a consultant, Integrated
Quality Laboratory Services (IQLS), to
convene a key stakeholders workshop to
further refine the Biorisk Management
Framework. The Framework offers a
comprehensive, systematic approach
to laboratory biorisk management, and
includes essential elements needed for
Ghanaian laboratories to assess their
operations and better integrate and
enhance their biosafety and biosecurity
In April 2018,
Biosafety and
Biosecurity senior
specialist Michael
Marsico spoke at
the 21st European
Biological Safety
Association
Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark
on efforts to strengthen biosafety and
biosecurity in US public health and clinical
laboratories. Other topics discussed during
the conference included concerns about
biosafety regulation and challenges public
health laboratories face, such as buy-in
from clinical laboratories. Representatives
from several countries expressed interest
in APHL’s efforts and in becoming APHL
members. Attending this conference has
allowed APHL to continue to promote its
efforts to strengthen biosafety, as well as
to foster a stronger community of biosafety
professionals.
photo above: Michael Marsico speaks at the 21st
European Biological Safety Association Conference
in Copenhagen
programs—whether in a human,
veterinary or environmental laboratory.
Moving forward, the BBC plans to
collaborate more with APHL’s Global
Health program and other partners
to provide expertise to countries on
developing and implementing biorisk
management plans, safety related training
programs and promoting the value of
biosafety in all laboratories. BBC members
are working to develop sessions for
upcoming international conferences to
showcase the successes and challenges of
biosafety and biosecurity in public health
laboratories. The BBC will also continue
to be a resource to APHL’s international
members and partners, developing tools
to distribute and providing training