Seminar on “Establishment of Biosafety Level-2 Lab”

Dr. Iahtsham Khan, Associate Professor, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore – Jhang Campus delivered a lecture on Establishment of Biosafety Level-2 Lab here at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU). He described details of the structure and facilities of a biosafety level 2 laboratory including engineering, personal protective equipment and standard operating procedures.

Biohazardous material including microorganisms have to be handled very safely in the laboratories to make sure that the laboratory workers are not exposed to any hazardous material such as the microorganisms. The levels of risk depend upon the microorganism which is handled in the laboratory. Accordingly the containment level varies and is classified from biosafety level 1 to biosafety level 4. A biosafety level 2 laboratory is designed for working with such class of microorganisms that can cause human or animal disease but are unlikely to be a serious hazard to laboratory workers or for the environment. This seminar was financially supported by Federal German Foreign Office (German partnership program for Biosafety and Biosecurity). The event was attended by postgraduate students of the Faculty of Biological Sciences.