What unique resources does the University of South Florida and the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories bring to the SECEBT partnership?
The University of South Florida (USF) has a fully accredited College of Public Health (COPH) that works in close partnership with the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). The Center for Biological Defense (CBD) is co-located with the FDOH Bureau of Laboratories (BOL) in a research Park on the south-side of campus with additional scientists just two buildings away in a brand-new interdisciplinary research building. Registered with the CDC Select Agent Program, the USF CBD has 2,200 sq ft of BSL-2 and 1,250 sq ft BSL-3 (4 labs) laboratories. More than 1200 BSL-2 and BSL-3 strains have been characterized and cryostocked – including control and reference strains of biothreat agents. These authenticated and conserved strains are a resource for validation studies of emerging technologies and decontamination agents or protocols. DOH staff, USF faculty and graduate students work together in studies of emerging infectious disease agents. Extensive research collaborations across all Florida public universities exist within the Florida Biodefense Research Consortium (FBRC) directed by the USF CBD.
The Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories is a large comprehensive Public Health Laboratory, with locations at five sites throughout our large state. The BOL works closely with other FDOH Bureaus, such as Epidemiology, Community Environmental Health, TB, Water and Onsite-Sewage Programs, County Health Departments, other State agencies and Universities throughout the State. The USF CBD, in addition to its basic and applied research labs and the Advanced Biosensors Laboratory (http://usfnews.usf.edu/page.cfm?id=84), has extensive programs in Education, Training and Outreach for bioterrorism awareness and sample collection in the field, and Medical Event Surveillance for bioterrorism and emerging infectious disease events ( www.bt.usf.edu).
Contacts:
University of South Florida
Jacqueline Cattani, MPH, Ph.D.
Professor of Global Health
Director, Center for Biological Defense
College of Public Health,
University of South Florida
3602 Spectrum Boulevard
Tampa, Florida 33612
Phone; (813) 974-7789
Florida Department of Health
Lillian Stark, PhD, MPH, MS
Adjunct Professor
College of Public Health
Florida Department of Health
Bureau of Laboratories - Tampa
3602 Spectrum Boulevard
Tampa, Florida 33612
Phone: 813-974-5990
How has the University of South Florida and the Florida Department of Health been involved with SECEBT?
Dr. Lisa Conti, D.V.M., M.P.H., Dipl. ACVPM, Director of the Division of Environmental Health for the Department of Health and Dr. Lillian M. Stark, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S, Virology Administrator for the Bureau of Laboratories were invited speakers at the first SECEBT Conference held in Atlanta, GA, in January 2003. The topic was West Nile Virus and the experiences of the states in the southeastern US.
In 2003, Christy Ottendorfer, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Global Health, USF COPH, was awarded a grant from SECEBT for the study entitled “The Impact of West Nile Virus on the Natural History of St. Louis Encephalitis Virus in Florida”. This work, performed at the FDOH Bureau of Laboratories in Tampa, is related to the State Arbovirus Surveillance Program, which is also based at that facility.
As a result of collaboration established at the SECEBT meeting in May of 2007, Drs Mark Klempner (BU), Thomas Unnasch (USF), and Linden Hu (Tufts) published “Taking a Bite Out of Vector-Transmitted Infectious Diseases” in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 21, 2007.
What areas of expertise or current University of South Florida and Florida Department of Health activities would be of particular interest to SECEBT?
USF Center for Biological Defense, Florida Biodefense Researchers Consortium, and Bioterrorism awareness training, Dr. Cattani USF CBD
Biothreat agents (CDC Select Agent Program) and NIH priority agents
Dr. Cannons, USF CBD, Dr. Lim, Advanced Biosensors Laboratory, USF
Vector-borne Disease
Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis virus (Dr. Stark, DOH and Dr. Unnasch, USF)
West Nile and St. Louis Encephalitis virus (Dr. Stark, DOH and Dr. Unnasch, USF)
Dengue virus (Dr. Stark, DOH and Dr. Azizan, USF)
Malaria (Dr. Kyle, Dr. Adams, USF)
Filariasis and African trypanosomiasis (Dr. Kyle, Dr. Unnasch, USF)
DOH Arbovirus Surveillance (WN, SLE, EEE, DEN)
Diagnosis of clinical disease etiology
Sentinel Chicken Surveillance
Field Specimens (birds, mammals, reptiles, mosquitoes)
Water/food-borne disease
Enterovirus, norovirus (Dr. Stark, DOH and Dr. Harwood, USF)
Indicator organisms (DOH)
Influenza virus (Dr. van Olphen, USF and Dr. Stark, DOH)
Tuberculosis (Dr. Salfinger, DOH)
HIV, Hepatitis C (Dr. Willis, DOH)
Syndromic surveillance (Dr. Cattani, USF CBD)
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