Science and Technology Daily: In terms of preventing virus leaks from the laboratory, what special protective technologies and measures does the BSL-4 Laboratory utilize?
Yuan Zhiming: The core of the Wuhan BSL-4 Laboratory is surrounded by stainless-steel walls, forming a "box-within-a-box" structure. The core lab enclosure can ensure sufficient structural strength and tightness to form a static seal. The lab's dynamic seal uses negative pressure technology to ensure a strict and orderly pressure gradient between the functional areas, thereby effectively preventing any air contaminated by infectious pathogenic microorganisms from spreading to areas with low contamination probability and to the external environment.
Air emitted from the lab is filtered and discharged by two-stage high-efficiency filters to ensure the safety of the emissions. Waste water is discharged after high-temperature treatment in a sewage treatment system. Polluted waste in the lab is subjected to high-temperature and high-pressure treatment by double-door autoclaves, and then safely removed and delivered to a centralized medical waste disposal unit with corresponding qualifications for disposal. Whenever personnel pass through the entrance and exit channels, their positive pressure protective suits are chemically disinfected using the chemical showers to ensure the safety of the passageways. The above technical protection measures ensure that viruses inside the lab cannot escape.
The laboratory not only has high-standard biological safety facilities, but also a strict biological safety management system, including a series of procedural documents and standard operation manuals on scientific research programs, personnel, laboratory animals, waste disposal and infectious material management. These ensure that the lab runs safely and efficiently. The physical facilities of the laboratory are tested annually by a third-party organization, and its operations are subject to supervision and evaluation by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment, as well as annual inspections by relevant national authorities.
Science and Technology Daily: Research into the COVID-19 virus will take a long time. What follow-up work will be done in the future?
Guan Wuxiang: The WIV will continue to face the urgent scientific and technological needs for rapid handling and emergency response. It will also carry out scientific research and make breakthroughs into the testing of pathogens, development of antiviral drugs and vaccines, evaluation of neutralizing antibody titers in recovering patients' plasma, and research animal models and pathogenic mechanisms.
Facing the long-term demand for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, the Institute will continue to conduct basic research and development into prevention and control technologies in the fields of biosecurity and public health. It will also provide scientific and technological support and decision-making consultation in order to safeguard biosecurity.
The article was published in Chinese on Science and Technology Daily and translated by Zhu Bochen, Wang Yiming, Wu Jin and Zhang Rui from China.org.cn.
