News

ABSA will hold its 62nd Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, USA between November 15th and 20th 2019. The preliminary program may be downloaded here.

SBNet's Secretary General was interviewed following SBNet's successful application to become a member of suissepro. The interview has now been published in Sicherheitsforum and may be found here.

Registration is now open for Suissepro Day 2019. The program as well as registration information may be found here.

All SBNet members may register as suissepro members and thus qualify for discounted registration rates.

SBNet's Secretary General was interviewed following SBNet's successful application to become a member of suissepro. The interview has now been published in SafetyPlus and may be found here.

The Scuola Universitaria Professionale delle Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) is proud to announce its training course on MALDI-TOF mass spectronomy. The course is scheduled for October 23rd - 25th 2019 at SUPSI.

During the course participants will have the possibility to work with and compare all machines and databases on the market (Vitek-MS, Bruker Biotyper, Saramis , ....). There will be a theoretical introduction to the basics of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, presentation of the different systems available for clinical diagnostics and research, laboratory applications for the identification of microorganisms from clinical and environmental samples (bacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts) and from insects (mosquitoes), using different instruments and databases. In addition, a series of presentations given by experts will provide the needed basic concepts and the appropriate tools for the evaluation of the analyses.

Please see the link for further information and how to register for the course.

Earlier this year SBNet was asked to evaluate the proposed changes to the Containment Ordinance. Whilst some proposed changes were highly welcomed by council, others, especially those concerned with laboratory biosecurity aspects, were strongly opposed. Unfortunately, it appears that authorities do not agree with SBNet's view on these issues which is why we feel the need to further address the proposed amendments with regard to the introduction of additional laboratory biosecurity measures.

Please follow this link to SBNet Council's open letter to all interested parties (German only).

We kindly ask you to voice your oppinions towards these changes and address them with the relevant authorities.

SBNet successfully applied for membership in suissepro. Membership was granted by the delegates of suissepro on April 4th 2019.

Suissepro is the umbrella association of the different associations for worker's health and safety in Switzerland. For more information please visit their website at www.suissepro.org.

SBNet council is convinced that our members will benefit in many ways from working more closely with the member associations of suissepro.

For those of you interested, SBNet members now also profit from discounted subscriptions to SafetyPlus which is the new official publication of suissepro.

Please find the link to the article below the abstract.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative continues to make progress toward the eradication target. Indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) type 2 was last detected in 1999, WPV type 3 was last detected in 2012, and over the past 2 years WPV type 1 has been detected only in parts of 2 countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Once the eradication of poliomyelitis is achieved, infectious and potentially infectious poliovirus materials retained in laboratories, vaccine production sites, and other storage facilities will continue to pose a risk for poliovirus reintroduction into communities. The recent breach in containment of WPV type 2 in an inactivated poliovirus vaccine manufacturing site in the Netherlands prompted this review, which summarizes information on facility-associated release of polioviruses into communities reported over >8 decades. Successful polio eradication requires the management of poliovirus containment posteradication to prevent the consequences of the reestablishment of poliovirus transmission.

Link

Please see the following link for a treatise on incorporating concerns for dual-use into science education: Novossiolova, 2019.

The Lab Excellence Academy (LEAC) offers a course titled "Faszination Biosafety - Aktuelle Trends und Risiken".

More information may be obtained on their website or in the attached flyer.