Room, Suite Scale, Class III Biological Safety Cabinet, and Sensitive Equipment Decontamination and Validation Using Gaseous Chlorine Dioxide

Abstract

The Tufts New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory facility has been using chlorine dioxide gas for >5 years, and >100 decontaminations have been done at the room level and on a Class III cabinet. The rooms have ranged from animal holding rooms containing animal racks (housing rodents and rabbits), biosafety cabinets, and computers to biosafety level 3 laboratories containing a variety of equipment (microscopes, biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, incubators, real-time polymerase chain reaction machines, etc). For a biosafety level 3 facility, the equipment is stainless steel where possible, but there is a variety of materials, including electronics and other sensitive equipment. No corrosion has been experienced on any equipment or surface despite repeated decontaminations. Even the most sensitive equipment has not experienced any ill effects. As a test, when decontaminations were started, a low-cost laptop computer was moved from room to room to a Class III cabinet, decontaminating it every time in each chamber. After 35 repeated exposures, it was still functioning with no issues. It is still in use in one of the animal rooms and gets decontaminated along with the room. The Class III cabinet has not shown any traces of corrosion on the stainlesssteel interior, nor has the stainless-steel inhalation exposure system kept inside the cabinet experienced any ill effects.The Tufts New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory (RBL) is a 41 000-ft 2 resource available to researchers in industry, academia, government, and not-for-profit. It is dedicated to the study of existing and emerging infectious diseases, toxinmediated diseases, and medical countermeasures important to biodefense. The RBL is a regional resource that allows researchers to improve human health through better detection, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases.Investigators at the RBL include members of the Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine who are experienced in many areas of research, including the biology, transmission, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious and toxin-mediated diseases associated with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases priority pathogens, food-and water-borne illnesses, and food and water security. The RBL is available as a resource to investigators from other academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and the private sector in New England and nationwide.The RBL, as part of Tufts University and the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, offers access to experienced investigators with expertise in the following: in vitro assays, assay and animal model development, biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) and select agent pathogens, study design and protocol development, and regulatory aspects (biological select agent and toxins, good laboratory practice, investigation new drug, Department of Defense). It includes laboratories for the study of BSL-2 and BSL-3 agents, including select agents. In addition to BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory su...

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