The laboratory features state-of-the-art equipment for microbial DNA detection, real-time microbe counting and Web cameras, so advanced training activities can be taught in the new laboratory and viewed over the Internet. The laboratory provides a simulated environment for training, where students follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocol and are trained to detect bioterrorism without manipulating the actual biological agents. The laboratory does not house select agents.
The Northeast Ohio Consortium for Biopreparedness (NEOCB), headquartered at the Kent Campus, is one of only two CDC biosafety laboratory training facilities in the entire United States.
The opening of the Kent State lab coincides with a day-long Public Health Preparedness Symposium, where Dr. Ed Thompson Jr., chief of public health practice at the CDC, will address "The State of Public Health Preparedness in the U.S."
For more information about the NEOCB or the symposium, go to: http://cphp.kent.edu/.