The containment laboratory – Level 3 biological safety has been designed and equipped to work with microorganisms from Risk Group 3 and with large quantities or high concentrations of microorganisms in Risk Group 2 which constitute increased risk of aerosol spread. This laboratory was inaugurated in February 2021 and is currently used in research of African swine fever virus.
Consists of an anteroom for material and personnel preparation, and a main procedure room equipped with tree vertical laminar flow chambers (type A2 and type B2), three CO2 incubators (Hera Cell), one regular incubator, two benchtop centrifuges (Eppendorff), a benchtop ultracentrifuge (Beckman), an aerosol-tight microfuge (Eppendorff), a Tecan infinite 200 multimode microplate reader, water baths, freezers, refrigerators, optical and inverted phase-contrast microscopes (Leica), and a dedicated double door pass-through autoclave (Matachana).
The Biosafety Level 3 Facility is specifically dedicated to research involving biological pathogens of level 3 security. It was designed to minimize the risk of personnel and environmental exposure to potentially hazardous agents according to European and Portuguese legislation. All users must undergo specific biosafety level 3 training and must follow strict rules and guidelines while working in the facility.