The Berlin High Security Laboratory goes into service

Extremely contagious and life-threatening viruses, such as the Ebola virus or Lbada, repeatedly trigger devastating epidemics. The deliberate application of these highly pathogenic viruses is considered by experts as a serious threat. Exactly, these pathogens can now be diagnosed and reliably researched in the S4 laboratory of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. The high security laboratory will enter service on July 31, 2018.

Berlin – For highly pathogenic pathogen infections, a rapid and reliable diagnosis is essential for deciding on quarantine and treatment options. Risk group 4 viruses are highly contagious and generally effective prevention or treatment of these infections is not possible. As a result, new drugs and vaccines are in high demand.

The new high security laboratory will enter service at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin next week. The highest level laboratory (S4) can safely diagnose and search for highly contagious, life-threatening pathogens such as Ebola or Nipah. "This will enable us to better fight these pathogens and lay the groundwork for the development of new drugs and vaccines," said Lothar H. Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute. "The new laboratory also strengthens Berlin as a research location and is conveniently located near the special isolation area of ​​the Charité-Virchow-Klinikum Campus," says Wieler

S4 Lab: Diagnosis and Investigation of Highly Pathogenic Pathogens

Diseases with highly pathogenic agents can also be imported into Germany. To decide quarantine and treatment options, the pathogen must be diagnosed quickly and reliably. Some of the diagnoses can only be performed in an S4 laboratory. Patients at the nearby Virchow-Klinikum Charity Campus will also benefit from the RKI High Security Laboratory

RKI Seestrbade's S4 laboratory in Wedding, Berlin, is an independent hermetic unit with its own electricity supply, in water and water. air supply. Multilevel security systems prevent viruses from escaping. The Robert Koch Institute is the only federal institute in the field of human medicine with an S4 lab.

Widely distributed: Pathogens in the highest risk group 4

Pathogens in the highest risk group 4 are examined in a high-security laboratory. These include Ebola, Marburg, Lbada, Nipah and also present in Europe Congo Crimean haemorrhagic fever virus. In addition, pathogens still unknown until now, for example the SARS virus in 2003, could be handled as a precaution in a laboratory of the highest level of protection. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015 has shown that such pathogens can cause major epidemics. More than 11,000 people died in West Africa. "We still know too little about the Ebola virus," said Lothar H. Wieler. In the RKI high-security laboratory, it is now necessary to study, among other things, the duration during which ebolaviruses outside the host cells can reproduce and which animals carry the virus naturally.

The expertise of the Robert Koch Institute in the treatment of highly pathogenic agents is in demand internationally. RKI employees have been increasingly involved in mobile laboratories in outbreaks in recent years or have strengthened laboratory capacity in adjacent areas. In 2016, RKI was designated WHO Collaborating Center for Emerging Infections and Biohazards.

S4 High Security Laboratory at RKI Seestrbade

The High Security Laboratory is part of a new office and laboratory building on the site of RKI Seestrbade, inaugurated in 2015 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The laboratory then went through a test phase and a subsequent test operation to review technical systems and training processes, maintenance and emergency processes. All permits required for commissioning on July 31, 2018 are available.

For more information on the S4 lab, including answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), click here