A lab in Saskatoon researching infectious diseases is looking to become only the second in Canada that is capable of working on the most severe and contagious illnesses.
The VIDO lab in Saskatoon, which currently operates as a containment level two and level three research facility, wants to upgrade the facility to containment level four.
Moving VIDO to containment level four would give Canada its second such facility — one is currently housed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Containment level four facilities deal with the most severe and contagious diseases.
Dr. Volker Gerdts, who heads up VIDO, said it is one of three critical elements for the research facility to become the country’s centre for pandemic research.
“This alone would double Canada’s capacity level for research and would help the country to be better prepared for any future emerging disease,” Gerdts told a Saskatoon city committee on Monday.
The other elements are the construction of a vaccine manufacturing facility on the University of Saskatchewan campus and a new animal facility.
“That will allow us to house exotic species from which we often see this is a jump into humans, and bats are a good example of such species,” Gerdts said.
Online community consultations will take place over three days starting on Jan. 27, Gerdts said.
The consultation allows people to ask questions and leave comments.
COVID-19 vaccine research
Progress continues at VIDO on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The lab has received approval from the federal government to move forward with a booster study.
Gerdts said this involves using VIDO’s vaccine in volunteers who have already received a vaccine authorized by the Canadian government.
“We all think that we will probably need annual boosters to move forward in the future,” he said.
“And so this is one of using VIDO’s vaccine as a booster to some of these already authorized vaccines.”
VIDO is also moving ahead with a large clinical trial in Uganda.
If successful, Gerdts said it will make VIDO’s vaccine available in countries that currently don’t have access to vaccines.
“Uganda, for example, is at about a 10 per cent vaccination rate. There are many other countries in Africa where the rates are even lower,” he said.
“We’re working with international organizations, including CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, the largest organization for these emerging diseases, to make our vaccine available to low- and middle-income countries around the world so that people have access to this technology that was developed here.”