Behind the Biohazard Sign: Contextualizing Biosafety

This project was a runner-up for the "Simple Explainer" prize on our Pandemics (Sept 2024) course. The text below is an excerpt from the final project.

In one of my earliest experiences working in a biological laboratory, a researcher jokingly referred to themselves as ‘a plumber, just for really small amounts of liquid.’ This lighthearted comment underscored the seemingly mundane yet meticulous nature of lab work which often involves hours, if not days, of moving extraordinarily small amounts of clear liquids around from one container to another, adding and taking away more clear liquids - hoping to uncover insights about the unseen world within those liquids. At the time I was told this joke, I was sitting in a BSL-2 laboratory, and if you had asked me to explain what BSL-2 meant, I could barely have told you that it stands for Biosafety Level-2, let alone detailed what that even means.

Now, I spend my days deeply immersed in biosafety regulations, learning the intricate rules (and sometimes lack thereof) that govern these spaces. These topics are often contentious, even among seasoned professionals, reflecting the complexity of the laboratory environments they aim to regulate. A true understanding of biosafety and its regulation requires a nuanced appreciation of the diverse laboratory settings where biological materials are handled. While it may be impossible to become an expert in every variation of biological research, this document endeavors to compile and describe these unique facilities around the world. My goal is that this serves as an in-between for those starting their journeys in infectious disease research or policy and that it helps the new biosafety professional or policy maker develop a strong fundamental understanding of biological research and introduce them to the resources needed to truly dive into this topic.

Full project

View the full project here