By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In order to enhance efforts in dealing with infectious diseases of plants and animals, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster broke ground last month for a biocontainment building. It will be called the Plant and Animal Research Facility, or PAAR.

“This building gives our researchers a tool to look at infectious diseases of plants and animals like we’ve not had in the past,” OARDC Associate Director David Benfield said. “The $22.2 million Ohio State University will spend for this facility will make a difference in the lives of people.”

The facility, which should be completed by the summer of 2012, will be a highly secure biocontainment facility. A key function of it will be dealing with diseases at the microbial level.

The PAAR facility will enable OARDC scientists to work with infectious agents classified by federal standards at the BSL-3 (biosafety level 3) and BSL-3 Ag safety levels. PAAR will be the first facility in Ohio and one of only two nationally with capacity for both plant and animal research at such safety levels.

“This project will enable Ohio to aggressively and proactively pursue solutions to invasive disease problems that will impact our agricultural and natural resource systems,” said OARDC Director Steve Slack. “Historically, it has been a vexing dilemma to watch problems developing and reaching our doorstep before we can respond. This facility will dramatically change that posture.”

The PAAR facility is expected to boost research on a number of diseases and pests capable of causing huge losses to crops, trees and livestock. These include emerald ash borer (an invasive insect which has caused $3 billion in economic loss in Ohio over the past decade), soybean rust (a disease that could jeopardize Ohio’s $1 billion annual soybean industry) and avian influenza (which threatens the state’s $93 million turkey industry).

In all, infectious diseases cost producers between $18 billion-$30 billion annually. Slack added that scientists and researchers will be looking at noroviruses, influenza strains, E. coli and other diseases and pathogens.

“Animal-borne diseases such as avian influenza can sicken humans, too, so the research conducted by OARDC scientists at PAAR is also expected to contribute to advancements in public health,” he said.

In addition to two BSL-3 labs, the PAAR facility will include four BSL-3 Ag isolation rooms, which are needed to work with large animals such as cows. Under federal guidelines, all facilities handling potentially infectious agents must adhere to strict procedures to ensure containment of these pathogens.

OSU operates several BSL-3 labs on its Columbus campus, but this is the first to be built on the Wooster campus and the first BSL-3 Ag lab at the university with capacity for work with livestock. Funding for the facility comes from state of Ohio capital funds, OARDC funds and federal grants.