GALVESTON — The $174 million laboratory where researchers will develop drugs and vaccines to battle infectious diseases will forever change the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and possibly the lives of millions of people around the world, officials said during its formal dedication Tuesday.
Almost 1,000 medical branch employees, elected officials and even one Hollywood celebrity — actress Morgan Fairchild — attended the dedication of the Galveston National Lab, where researchers will study both naturally occurring diseases and microbes that might be altered and used by terrorists.
“We’re going to make medical history,” said U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, an island native who pushed to have the state- and federally funded laboratory built at the Galveston campus.
Medical branch doctors and researchers have a long history of fighting and studying infectious diseases. A port city, Galveston was the site of yellow fever and influenza epidemics, and the medical branch in the 1920s operated a center dedicated to studying bubonic plague.
In the new laboratory, researchers will develop therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), anthrax, avian flu, bubonic plague, typhus, West Nile virus, drug-resistant tuberculosis and hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola, some of the biggest threats to world health.
The 186,267-square-foot, high-security lab, where researchers could play a major role in germ warfare defense, was one of two approved by the National Institutes of Health after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“This is a good news day for America,” Hutchison said. “This is very important to national defense and the security of our people.”
Stiff resistance from opponents who feared deadly pathogens would escape into the community has delayed opening of the second lab at Boston University Medical Center.
But the medical branch laboratory, which when fully staffed would employ about 300 people, met with little resistance. Hutchison praised local officials for winning over island residents by being open about plans and informative about safety measures.
Still, some county residents questioned the logic of building such a facility on a barrier island vulnerable to hurricanes. But while Hurricane Ike, which struck Sept. 13, pushed storm surge into 750,000 square feet of medical branch buildings, the Galveston National Lab was unharmed.
Engineers and architects considered the threat of hurricanes when designing and building the laboratory, officials say. The lab is anchored by a foundation of about 700-concrete pilings extending 120-feet into the ground. The windows are hurricane resistant, and biocontainment labs are housed more than 30 feet above sea level.
Renowned researchers would work with “competence and caution in high containment,” said Dr. Stanley Lemon, director of the university’s Institute for Human Infections and Immunity.
When hurricanes threaten the island, the lab is shut done far in advance. The system was tested by Ike, which did not result in any structural damage or breaches in biocontainment or security, officials say.
Other buildings did take a hit. The celebration Tuesday came as thousands of medical branch employees feared for their jobs. Ike inflicted $710 million in expenses at the medical branch, which is anxiously awaiting word from federal and state officials about financial help.
UT System Chancellor Kenneth Shine spoke about the survival and accomplishments of the medical branch after the devastating 1900 Storm that killed 6,000 island residents and laid waste to Galveston.
“One hundred and eight years from now, we will be thrilled by what has been accomplished,” Shine said. The lab would have far-reaching implications, offering “a better life to everyone who lives on the earth.”
The dedication was a respite from problems caused by the hurricane and a reason to hope, officials said.
“We are really excited, this is a great opportunity to do what we are supposed to do, which is to look forward,” said Dr. David Callender.
The presence of actress Fairchild inspired curiosity. After the ceremony, the Dallas native said her work as an AIDS activist and an interest in medicine — she had always wanted to be a doctor — brought her to the ceremony.
Tuesday was a proud day for her home state, she said.
“I’m very excited this research facility is in Texas,” she said.
