From June 23-24, 150 key leaders met in Manhattan, Kansas, to discuss the future research activities and operations of the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility, or NBAF.
“Pioneering Partnerships with NBAF: A summit with livestock producers and the animal health industry about science, synergy and security” was an industry-focused, invitation-only summit. It provided a centralized location for livestock producers, animal health industry leaders, researchers and policymakers to start discussions about how NBAF will work with the community and develop a strong working relationship between government and industry before the federal laboratory begins its operations.
Participants shared their ideas, recommendations and needs for research and development, collaborations, communications and policy during the summit. Virtual tours of the NBAF site and Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute at Pat Roberts Hall also were given.
The summit included keynote speeches by Catherine Woteki, undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Research, Education and Economics mission area and the department’s chief scientist, and Christina Murata, chief of staff for the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In her keynote, Woteki said many health, food and natural resource-related issues were coming together to create a perfect storm for agriculture, so NBAF would be a frontline in animal health and food safety.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about three-quarters of recently emerging infectious diseases that are affecting people are diseases of animal origin, and approximately 60 percent of all human pathogens are zoonotic,” Woteki said. “Animals and foods of animal origin can be vectors for the transmission of these diseases, so there are implications for food safety.”
Murata spoke about the importance of having partners at the federal, state and local government levels as well as at the academic, industrial and international levels to ensure NBAF fully addresses the nation’s needs in animal health and food safety.
The summit is the first in a series designed to bring together NBAF’s key stakeholders.
NBAF is DHS’ foremost animal disease research facility. The $1.25 billion facility is a biosafety level-4 laboratory that will research emerging, high-consequence livestock diseases. NBAF is expected to be fully operational by 2022 or 2023.