A University of Pittsburgh lab charged by the National Institutes of Health with developing vaccines is a year behind schedule and likely will not open until January 2008 -- at the earliest.
"It's not a simple process," said Dr. Donald Burke, director of Pitt's new Center for Vaccine Research, where the biocontainment lab will be housed. "We think we're doing fine now. We hope to start with one simple project in early '08."
The lab's mission is to develop vaccines to counter bioterror attacks and deadly pathogens such as dengue fever, tuberculosis and avian flu. Installing special air filters, a machine to count cells from samples and X-ray technology has contributed to the delay, Burke said.
The $29 million lab is the only section of Pitt's third biomedical science tower, on Fifth Avenue between Darragh and Lothrop streets, not yet operational, said Jim Swyers, a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center spokesman. Research in the 10-story structure started in September 2005, when the department of structural biology began work.
The center must spend $23.9 million awarded by the Maryland-based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases by Sept. 30, 2008, said Mike Kurilla, director of the institute's biodefense research affairs. The university contributed the rest of the money, Burke said.
Pitt's biocontainment lab will be one of 13 in the country that will research methods to fight the second-most lethal group of microbes. None is open yet, Kurilla said. Duke University's is scheduled to become operational in upcoming months, followed by Colorado State's later this year.
Burke has confidence that Pitt's will "probably be the second or third one to open."
"There's some slight discomfort that these projects take as long as they do, but we know construction projects take a certain amount of time, and rushing a project is not going to give you the type of product that you want," Kurilla said. "It would be nice if (Pitt's lab) could be up sooner, but we factored some slippage into the length of the award."
Kurilla said Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast in August 2005, severely altered construction companies' abilities to bid on and undertake projects. The storm caused building materials to skyrocket, for example, he said.
The lab is expected to create 80 to 100 jobs, Swyers said. The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct background checks on all those who work at the facility.
Two labs, one in Boston and one in Galveston, Texas, are designed to handle the deadliest of microbes, such as ebola, Burke said.
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