ERINHA · European Research Infrastructure on Highly Pathogenic Agents

In the context of the emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases involving highly pathogenic microorganisms, European countries have to be well-prepared to face such threats. However, the Biosafety Level 4 (BSL4) capacity in Europe is not sufficient enough to cover the efficient development of diagnosis, prophylactic and therapeutics means against these pathogens. Moreover, there is no global coordination of activities and harmonization of practice in this field. Therefore, the ERINHA project proposes the creation of a top world-class BSL4 research infrastructure that will address the actual European capacity sparseness. The project plans to conduct five main actions which are: (i) Building additional BSL4 areas in several existing BSL4 laboratories, (ii) Building BSL4 laboratories in strategically selected EU countries that are lacking one, (iii) Building a support infrastructure around BSL4 laboratories mainly dedicated to host scientific visitors and staff, (iv) Setting-up the user access to the ERINHA infrastructure, (v) Establishing coordination capacities for efficient dispatching and control of all activities. For 46 months, the ERINHA Preparatory Phase will focus on (i) Identifying relevant sites in Europe for new BSL4 constructions or major upgrades, (ii) Getting political and financial commitments from National, European or International concerned entities to support construction, (iii) Establishing a secured and validated financial plan for construction, (iv) Defining and implementing an appropriate governance and legal framework, (v) Harmonising and disseminating common procedures related to L4 biological resources, biosafety and biosecurity management, (iv) Defining and implementing joint training programs to operate in BSL4 facilities, (vii) Identifying the ERINHA’s users and establishing rules for access. These achievements will allow the ERINHA project to reach the legal, financial and technical maturity to proceed to the construction phase.