Below are commonly used terms within biosafety, biosecurity, and pathogen research materials.
B
Biocontainment: The design of experimental procedures, safety equipment and laboratory facilities to effectively contain pathogens and biological toxins in order to prevent their accidental release and spread.
Biorisk Management: Effective management of risks associated with infectious viruses, bacteria and other biological agents and toxins in laboratories.
Biosafety: The use of specific practices, training, safety equipment and specially designed buildings to protect workers, the community and environment from an accidental exposure or unintentional release of infectious agents and biological toxins.
Biosecurity: Measures taken to protect pathogens and biological toxins from loss, theft or misuse.
D
Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC): A subset of biological research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel or national security.
E
Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogen (ePPP): Certain research that may be reasonably anticipated to create, transfer or use potential pandemic pathogens resulting from the enhancement of a pathogen’s transmissibility and/or virulence to humans. In the U.S., such research must be justified by compelling public health need and conducted in very high biosecurity laboratories to receive regulatory approval and funding.
Exposure Control Plan/Protocol: A written plan designed to minimize or eliminate exposure to pathogens during the course of laboratory work. An exposure control plan should identify all employees at risk of occupational exposure, specify measures which must be taken to minimize exposure risk and develop procedures for evaluating exposure incidents.
G
Gain of Function Research: A type of experimental approach in which scientists attempt to modify the biological features of a pathogen to change its behavior. In the case of viruses, gain of function research often seeks to forecast how a virus might mutate and gain attributes that could alter its transmissibility or virulence under certain conditions.
Growth Curve Experiment: A type of experiment in which the growth rate of bacteria in an inoculated medium is tracked over time.
I
Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC): A campus committee that reviews and approves research and other activities that may pose a biological risk.
P
Pathogen: An organism that causes disease to its host. Pathogens are diverse and include many viruses, as well as bacteria and other unicellular and multicellular organisms.
Potential Pandemic Pathogen: Viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms that could be highly transmissible and capable of broad spread in human populations and are highly virulent, meaning they could cause severe disease and/or death in humans. Examples include H5N1 avian influenza and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Q
Quarantine: The act of separating and restricting the movement of people who were potentially exposed to a contagious pathogen to prevent disease spread.
S
Select Agent: Biological agents and toxins that are subject to federal regulations because they could potentially pose a severe threat to human, animal or plant health and safety. Select agents that could threaten human health and safety are regulated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, while select agents that pose risks to animals or plants are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The departments share responsibility for regulating select agents that could threaten both humans and animals.
T
Transmissibility: The ability of a pathogen to be passed from one host to another.
Transmission experiment: A type of experiment in which the spread of a pathogen between hosts is studied. Transmission experiments are useful for understanding both how pathogens spread between hosts and for testing the effectiveness of interventions such as vaccines.
V
Virulence: The ability of a microorganism to cause damage (i.e., disease) to its host.