CSIRO Plans Geelong Biocontainment Lab Upgrade to Support Vaccine Development

The Australian government has awarded AUD$220 million in federal funding to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for upgrades to its biocontainment research facilities in Geelong. Constructed 35 years ago, the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory) is a secure campus with four laboratory structures offering BSL-4 research space. The project will retrofit and modernize three of the buildings to provide leading-edge infrastructure for the study of infectious and zoonotic diseases and the creation of new diagnostic tools and therapies. Renovation work is expected to commence in spring of 2022. CSIRO has also been awarded an additional $10 million to accelerate its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine research and testing efforts.