Japan turns over lab to Phl in fight vs diseases

Japan turned over the biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to enable research on higher-risk bacteria and viruses, and improving the RITM functions.

Japanese embassy’s second secretary Takeo Okada and Department of Health (DOH) director Mar Wynn Bellola attended the recent turn over of the BSL3 under Japan’s grant aid at the RITM in Alabang.

Through this project, it is expected that RITM will further contribute to the prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious and tropical diseases in the Asia-Pacific region.

The RITM had been constructed through grant aid from the Japanese government in 1981. For more than 30 years it has played a central role in the field of research and human resources development for preventing infectious diseases in the Philippines.

1A biosafety level (BSL) is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4).