Stanford In-vitro BSL₃ Facility

In vitro Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) Service Center” is one of several biomedical research core facilities functioning under the direction of the Senior Associate Dean for Research for the School of Medicine. The BSL3 Service Center supports BSL2 and 3 level infectious disease research at Stanford University and requires researchers to have specialized expertise, training and instrumentation knowledge to support cutting-edge research of all Stanford researchers in its facility.

Stanford University has a large BSL3 facility, which started operations in early October 2020 with certification by Stanford University Environmental Health and Safety office and the CDC. This unit follows all the standard requirements including but not limited to restricted access, an anteroom, a controlled inward airflow, a coordinated exhaust system, personnel safety measures (showers, eye wash stations, etc.), independent autoclave, and HVAC failure alarm systems. 

This facility operates as a service center on a fee-for-use basis. The facility (3500 sqft), contains two suits: First #377 BSL3 lab (625 sqft) and a second #381 BSL3 lab (629 sqft) with 218 sqft Anteroom and BSL2 support space for pre and post-processing including cell culture and biobanking facility. There are separate cardkey access controls for the suite, the BSL2 space, and the BSL3 space. The #377 BSL3 lab has one autoclave, three Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinets (BSC), one Class II Type B2 (total exhaust) BSC, four cell culture incubators (3 of which are Heracell Cell Locker incubators), and a Sony 4laser/6color FACS sorter in a custom BSC.  The #377 BSL3 lab also houses a Beckman Optima XE-90 ultracentrifuge, a Promega GloMax discover plate reader GM3000, and a EVOS XL Core inverted microscope. The #381 BSL-3 lab has one autoclave, two Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinets (BSC) and one Class II Type B2 (total exhaust) BSC along with  Heracell Cell Locker incubators, one roller bottle incubator and a Eppendorf® New Brunswick™ Innova® 43 Incubator Shaker, MPbio fastprep-24 classic bead beating lysis system (sample capacity 48) and Eppendorf benchtop centrifuges.

The BSL2 space has six BSCs and 8 cell culture incubators with 106 sqft Cold Room and 889 sqft main lab plus 263 sqft prep lab. All of the spaces have their own -80C and -20C freezers and 4C refrigerators. There is also secure liquid nitrogen cell storage for infectious samples within the facility. Of special note, the facility has highly qualified and trained personnel available to handle the experimental work with TB and viruses including SARS-CoV-2.

The Stanford BSL-3 is fully equipped to perform high quality viral and bacterial research.
The BSL3 Core provides training and consultation for Stanford and external researchers who are planning TB related as well as viral (including SARS-CoV-2) projects and provides access to BSL-3 tissue culture, live cell sorting based upon first come first basis.

All Stanford researchers can access the Core’s unique array of instruments and experimental systems by personally undergoing safety training and certification to enter the BSL3 facility and conduct experiments or engaging with Core staff who can conduct experimental procedures under biocontainment protocols on a fee-for-service basis.