A 4.8 Million Dollar, Plant Pathology Bio-Safety (BL3) Laboratory/Glasshouse

 Combating New and Emerging Plant Diseases

A $4.8 million dollar Plant Pathology Bio-Safety Level (BL3) laboratory/glasshouse on the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota is scheduled for completion in September of 2007. This BL3 level containment facility is the culmination of years of effort by the Department of Plant Pathology (and the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory), the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Why a BL3 level Bio-Safety laboratory/glasshouse in Minnesota? Simply put, the facility allows preemptive research and readiness planning for new and emerging plant pathogens. Preemptive research is a key to preventing damage to economically important plants in Minnesota and the Midwest region. Quarantine laws and regulations prohibit

hands-on research with plant pathogens like soybean rust in states or regions where the pathogen does not already exist.

 Access to a BL3 containment facility also allows research on pathogens such as the cause of sudden oak death and races of stem rust like Uganda 99 that can attack the genetic base of the Mexican wheat varieties used in the “Green Revolution”. The impetus for the laboratory began in June 2004, with the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion

Council’s Research and Technology Transfer Committee. Their motivation was the concern for the introduction of Asian soybean rust into Minnesota and the upper Midwest.  The Association’s support was unwavering and tenacious. They deserve a great deal of credit for making this specialized laboratory facility a reality.

This BL3 facility is the only one of its kind in the mid-western United States. Only two other Plant Pathology BL3 facilities have been built and are in the process of being commissioned. One is at the University of California Berkeley and the other at Beltsville, Maryland. Plant Pathologists from the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will all use the facility.

The Plant Pathology BL3–level Research Laboratory is the final phase of the University of Minnesota’s $24 million plant growth complex. The complex includes classrooms and teaching laboratories, 15,000 square feet of plant growth space in state-of-the-art greenhouses and a BL2 Insect Quarantine Facility.