ABSA Update – January 2024

Dear Biosafety and Biosecurity Community,

I am honored and humbled to serve as President of ABSA International. I look forward to bringing my passion for biosafety and biosecurity, in the same way that you all do, making our profession one of the most important professions in recent years. I share and admire your deep commitment to transform life sciences through the power of guidance, expertise, and lessons learned. I look forward to continuing my work with the Council, Team Leads, our volunteers, and all our ABSA Office staff.

As the new year approaches, we need to continue to advance our efforts towards our strategic planning goals and objectives. This can and will be achieved thanks to your continuous support and commitment to ABSA International. I know that past years have challenged ABSA International; I see a great association with a strong historical foundation that can reach new levels of excellence.

We are preparing for an exciting and educational year with the 3rd International Biosecurity Virtual Symposium and 67th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference. We want these events to be memorable and informative for you to remain engaged, grow your talent, spread your passion and inspiration to promoting these amazing words called “biosafety and biosecurity.”

The 2024 landscape will be challenging, but not impossible, because together we will strengthen ABSA International and foster a culture that values and hears the voices from every member of our community. As we work together to shape the future of ABSA International, we need to answer the following questions… “What will it take for ABSA International to maintain its position among the top important biosafety associations in the world?” “How will ABSA contribute to the safe and secure professional development of science without stopping the human progress?” “How are we preparing to maintain all these biosafety professionals, including the new members that are now part of this big family called ABSA International?”

The new year will bring us more challenges, difficulties, and interesting opportunities to continue working with all our peers regionally and worldwide to generate clear, achievable, understandable, and measurable ways to engage in biosafety and biosecurity practices. We need to be prepared for challenges that do not yet exist.

I invite each of you to stay engaged and continue sharing your expertise and talent, your passion and knowledge, and make your voices heard through the various ABSA committees, ABSA blog, and the listserv. Once again, thanks to all our leaders and volunteers for your continued support, trust, and hard work in the biosafety and biosecurity profession.

Kind regards,

Luis Ochoa Carrera, MSc
President, ABSA International

Chair: William Peters

The 66th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Hybrid Conference was held from October 13-18, 2023, in Omaha, Nebraska. We had 52 companies exhibiting and 8 sponsors—4 Bronze, 2 Silver, 1 Gold, and 1 Platinum. Onsite exhibit booths were open during the 3-day conference for participants to access and interact with booth personnel.

We look forward to the 67th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference from November 1-6, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. We encourage you to participate by exhibiting/sponsoring your company’s products and services and/or sponsoring an event. If you have any questions about exhibiting/sponsoring, please contact Karen Savage (karen@absaoffice.org) for further information.

Chair: Niki Drazenovich
Co-Chair: Matt Fischer

ABSA members currently have 10 quizzes available online for CM points and additional quizzes in development covering two Anthology Books (VIII and VIX) and the Bradford University-Preventing Biological Threats book. These quizzes are low cost and can be located on the website at https://absa.org/online-education/.

Chair: Hallie Hoskins
Co-Chair: Rhonda O’Keefe

The Board has finalized an improved CM Worksheet in Excel format, and it is now posted on our webpage. Members may begin using it regardless of their cycle end dates as it is a great record-keeping tool as well. The new form lets you know if you are short on any CM points as it tallies points automatically and should be more user-friendly. The Word version is also available for the next year to those not familiar with Excel.

The CMB and the Distance Learning Committee (DLC) hosted a webinar on maintaining RBP(ABSA) and CBSP(ABSA) credentials. There were over 100 people in attendance and the feedback was positive. The webinar will be posted on the Credentialing Maintenance webpage.

We are preparing for a review of credentialing maintenance worksheets for the 2019-2023 cycle and expect approximately 100 people to be recredentialed this year. Worksheets must be submitted by February 1, 2024.

Chair: Amy Ryan

The Bylaws Committee continues to edit and review the Policies & Procedures of various teams and committees. Two P&Ps were reviewed during the past quarter. The committee asks that all teams and committees perform an annual review and submit any changes to the ABSA International Office. The office will forward the changes to the committee for review and approval.

Chair: Sepideh Hockley

The 2024 Local Arrangements Committee for Phoenix has picked up where it left off with plans originally intended for the 2020 Phoenix conference. The conference will be held at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and is within walking distance of Desert Ridge Mall bars, restaurants, and shopping. The banquet will be at the beautiful Desert Foothills and promises a truly western experience surrounded by Saguaro cactus, outdoor firepits, and a variety of fun activities! We are working on selecting the presenter gifts and attendee gifts with an Arizona flair. We will have more information for you in the coming months.

Chairs: Dan Eisenman and Shalaka Kotkar

The ABTS modules were completely overhauled in 2022. In 2023, we reviewed the associated quizzes and recorded audio for each of the ABTS modules. Further information about each of the seven (7) modules is available at https://absa.org/online-education/.

Co-Chairs: Geoff Phillips and Ray Scheetz

PCC has completed the review of the Preconference Committee comments regarding the 2023 Omaha professional development courses. Logistic considerations for 2024 will include streamlining the course sign-in process, location of instructor tables, and the membership notification regarding the proper electronic devices and plugs used at the conference.

The PCC continues to have dedicated volunteers completing the course reviews and facilitating all the professional development courses at the ABSA conference.

Co-Leads: Pat Condreay and Carrie Smith

The Spring session of PPB will be held in San Diego, California in March of 2024. The class is sold-out, and a list has been started for the summer 2024 session which will be held in Denver, Colorado. To be added to the notification list for registration opening, please contact the ABSA Office at info@absa.org.

Chair: Maya Nair
Co-Chair: Will Pinard

In October, the TTR met at the conference with 12 members attending. The Strategic Plan was shared and discussed the following points with the committee.

• How can TTR contribute towards the strategic plan?
• What are some strategies that can help to bring resources from affiliates to ABSA?
• Establish guidelines to review the resources.
• How to credit the owners who developed the resources and adhere to copyrights.

Thank you to the seven new committee members that have joined this year! The committee is currently reviewing Agent Information Sheets developed by Boston and Emory Universities.

Chair: Karon Floyd
Co-Chair: Brian O’Shea

The Legislative Committee has been a little busy this year. We reviewed the request for comments on the Proposed Revisions to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines) regarding potential changes to the policies for oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) and the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) Policy Framework. The Legislative Committee provided comment alongside ABSA Technical and Regulatory Review Committee (TRR) Chaired by Esmerelda Meyer. We are currently reviewing, with some stakeholders, the process of BSO notifications of CDC/USDA permits.

We are continuing the transition to merge with the Technical & Regulatory Review (TRR) Committee. We are still reviewing and modifying the committee charters, roles, and responsibilities. We are looking forward to the new year with some excitement and the impact ABSA makes on the biosafety community.

Chair: Robin Tobias
Co-Chair: Daniela Didier

The Public Relations and Marketing Committee (PRM) is happy to welcome new members this year as well as a new rotation of Chair and Co-Chair. We are actively involved in partnering with the ABSA public relations firm and plan to apply the information learned through this collaboration to the existing media toolkit that we previously developed before circulating. We continue to work on Biosafety and Biosecurity Month as an opportunity for our community to recognize, reflect, promote, and advocate for biosafety and biosecurity in research and healthcare. We are in the beginning stages of planning new projects that will frame biosafety, biosecurity, and biological research in a positive way. Other ongoing projects include participation in a joint webinar with the APHL on laboratory design and construction and providing resources to the ABSA community in the form of templates, blog posts, etc. PRM is also interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion both in terms of how it applies to ABSA members and to the people we serve at our respective institutions.

Chair: Eric Lewis
Co-chairs: Rhonda O’Keefe, Ericka Pearce, and Endah Sulistijo

The Distance Learning Committee continues to develop, review, and offer new and ongoing webinars for ABSA International members’ professional growth. As of December 2023, 14 courses have been completed, reaching over 1,200 participants. Webinars scheduled for the coming months include: What is Biosecurity? Why is it Important? The Risk Assessment Process—A Hands-on Survival Guide; and Battling Professional Burnout by Taking Control of Your Biosafety Career. Topics for webinars under development include bio-pharma biosafety; export control; and building relationships with local police departments, fire departments, and first responders.

For a list of available webinars, please go to: https://absa.org/online-education/. Course lists are updated routinely. Please invite your colleagues, nonmembers, or other professionals to attend. If you are interested in teaching a course or know a subject matter expert in a particular field of interest to biosafety or biosecurity professionals, or if you had general comments that you would like to share with the DLC, please contact the ABSA office at education@absa.org. We welcome your involvement and feedback.

Lead: Maya Nair
Vice Lead: Noman Siddiqi

BRM Connect taskforce met in September, October, and November. Due to the holidays, the December meeting is cancelled.

The members had robust discussions about how a project-based mentoring program could be successfully implemented given the diversity of ABSA members from various locations, institutions, sectors and with different kinds of expertise.

Based on these discussions, a draft implementation plan has been developed with specific functions within each component and submitted to ABSA Council in October 2023. The BRM Connect Task Force is currently working on various functions of the implementation plan. The forms and process are either being newly developed or adapted from the 2020 BRM Connect pilot program. The overall start and stop dates are currently being discussed to ensure alignment with the annual ABSA conference, abstract submission deadlines, and other logistics.

Co-Chairs: Kelly Flint and Anthony R. Sambol

The BSAT Community Advocate Committee (BSAT CAC) is in a rebuilding phase. Support from the CDC had been re-initiated, and together the committee and CDC are planning webinars for the 2024 calendar year. The BSAT CAC is looking to add to its membership. The main requirement of membership is being part of a Select Agent Program, i.e., current RO and ARO. Please visit the Teams and Committee page on the ABSA Website and use the “Get Involved” button to volunteer.

Coming soon the BSAT CAC is looking to offer a webinar on Emergency Response in High-Containment Labs. Please be on the lookout for an announcement.

Chair: Matt Anderson

Thank you to everyone who attended the conference in Omaha, Nebraska and took part in the “Selfie Booth.” We heard lots of comments about the stickers and buttons we gave out to those who showed us that they had posted to social media. Some of the feedback we received was about how to find the committee members with the buttons, so we will try to figure out a better system for next year.

With regards to the refresh of the ABSA International website, the committee worked closely with our web developer to create a new navigation menu and layout for the front page of the ABSA website. Council has approved the changes and it is now live. The next steps in the refresh will be to work with task forces and committees to review and curate the existing website content and determine what should stay on the site, what can be removed, and how we might rearrange some pages to improve organization and accessibility to the resources available.

We will be reaching out to task force leaders and committee chairs to start this process. Finally, we are looking for new members to help us with this revamp to serve as liaisons with the teams and committees, then report back to the E-Comm committee on changes and edits the teams and committees want made. We look forward to what is to come this year!

Co-Chairs: Lia Vizzotti and Parimala Arokiaraj

The Affiliates Committee is pleased to announce that the Brazilian Biosafety & Biosecurity Society (SB3) has been approved as an affiliate of our organization. SB3’s commitment to promoting biosafety and biosecurity aligns perfectly with our mission, and we believe that their expertise and contributions will greatly enhance our efforts in this field. We extend our warmest welcome to SB3 and look forward to a fruitful collaboration in the future.

We are currently working with the Eurasian Biosafety Society who have expressed interest in becoming an affiliate.

In 2024, the committee plans to meet with the chairs of the affiliate groups. The purpose of these meetings would be to exchange ideas and resources with other local/regional associations.

Chairs: Esmeralda Meyer and Marian Downing

EIDC Toolboxes (https://absa.org/toolboxes/) continue to be updated monthly with the most recent resources. Below are the new resources added in the second half of 2023:

• New toolboxes compiling information on recent outbreaks including Other Zoonotic Agents and Parasites
• The Labroots Video featured during the 2023 ABSA Annual Conference: Introducing the EIDC Toolbox recording was posted to the Toolbox website—this is an introduction to the Toolboxes, what they are, and how to use them in conducting your risk assessments.

Betsy Gilman Duane and Ed Stygar continue to pursue the goal of restoring the ABSA-OSHA Alliance, which produced various useful resources over several years.

Chairs: Dee Zimmerman and Betsy Weirich

Member Resources Committee (MRC) had a productive meeting during the ABSA conference this year. Several ABSA members attended.

The MRC facilitates the relationship between members within ABSA International. The MRC supports and enhances biosafety and biosecurity knowledge by providing sustained opportunities for biosafety and biosecurity communication, education, and mentoring.

Responsibilities/Initiatives include assisting members with getting involved in ABSA teams and committees; highlighting training opportunities and resources for members new to the biosafety profession; facilitating mentorship opportunities for new and existing members and developing the mentorship program guidelines; and hosting the new member reception and other activities to welcome new members at the annual ABSA conference.

The MRC provides resources for new and existing ABSA members. There have been two successful mentee/mentor placements over the last 2 years. MRC met with the credentialing board during the open session to determine how we can collaborate to help new members complete applications for RBP/CBSP credentials. The long-term goal for MRC was shared—to be more inclusive of international members; welcoming them, helping them get involved, and finding mentorship opportunities for them alongside our domestic members.

Chair: Joseph Kozlovac
Co-Chair: David Harbourt

The Exam Development Board continues to make revisions and improvements to the CBSP exam to maintain the integrity of the credential. The Board met multiple times in the past quarter to look for subject areas that require additional questions used to generate the exam. Individual members have submitted new questions to improve the quality and balance the difficulty within each subject area of the CBSP exam. Each of these questions will be reviewed by the entire committee for approval early in 2024.

Lead: Shoolah Escott
Co-Lead: Crystal Fortune

Shoolah Escott, current Public Health Outreach Shared Interest Group (SIG) Co-Lead, has agreed to take over as the Lead and Crystal Fortune has agreed to become the Co-Lead. Shoolah presented the SIG’s poster titled “Public Health Laboratory Construction & Renovation Helpful Tips” at the Northeast Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Annual Meeting in September and it was also posted at the ABSA Registration desk during the ABSA Conference. The poster generated a lot of interest. The SIG is still compiling a list of construction and renovation references and resources, including ABSA and APHL sources and public resources. As a follow-up on lab construction, the SIG is co-sponsoring two webinars with APHL. The first is scheduled for January 18, and will cover construction concerns for labs considering renovations. The second will be held in February and discuss special construction concerns such as green issues, mobile labs, ADA, accessibility, and ergonomic considerations. As part of our SIG’s continuing collaboration with the safety committee of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), Channing Sheets (SIG member), Nikki Marlenee (SIG member), and Rob Heckert (Biosafety Consultant), did a presentation on Laboratory References, PPE for BSL-3/ABSL-3, and Carcass Disposal Issues at the AAVLD national meeting. A re-recording of the presentations is planned for this winter and will be proposed to the TT/R committee for posting on the ABSA website. The SIG met in-person at the Omaha meeting on October 16. There were eight attendees in-person and four attendees via Zoom. The SIG and APHL have created a one-page flyer to encourage PH and clinical/diagnostic laboratorians to volunteer as community members of an IBC. The flyer was posted on December 18. The SIG has submitted a proposal for a breakout session at the APHL Annual Meeting on how to use the ABSA LAI Database to prevent future laboratory infections.

Coeditors-in-Chief: Barbara Johnson and Karen Byers

In addition to the typical influx of biosafety and biosecurity related manuscripts being submitted, the Applied Biosafety Editorial Board is working on a special issue of the journal that is focused on Biosafety and Biosecurity for Synthetic Genomics. The Guest Editors for the special issue are Drs. Sarah R. Carter and Rocco Casagrande. They have provided substantial assistance to the APB Associate Editors Scott J. Patlovich and David R. Gillum with identification of experts in the field, manuscript recruitment, and review. To date, there have been 14 manuscript submissions from more than 30 authors on a range of topics, including: safeguarding mail-order DNA, genetic biocontainment technologies, regulatory interpretation and guidance for genomic synthesis screening, biosecurity practices for synthetic DNA providers, biosecurity risk assessments for AI in synthetic biology, cyberbiosecurity for desktop synthesis devices, and much more. Depending on how many articles are found suitable and accepted, there could be two themed issues of the journal dedicated to these topics. The Coeditors-in-Chief, Barbara Johnson and Karen Byers, are working closely with the Associate Editors to meet deadlines for publication and would like to express their sincerest thanks to all the authors and reviewers for the special issue.

Chair: AJ Troiano
Co-Chairs: Colleen Kovacsics and Susan Vleck

The Scientific Program Committee welcomed new members to the committee as we reflected on the 66th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference in Omaha, Nebraska last October. Working diligently through the conference survey feedback, the responses were overwhelmingly positive with some poignant recommendations for improvement moving into the 67th Annual Conference this year. Notably, we are making significant process improvements to the abstract submission website in collaboration with OASIS to ensure expectations are clear, the submission portal is more user friendly, and the review process is as transparent as possible for the ABSA community. In addition to this, the SPC is looking into how to streamline the various conference applications used for streaming and Q&A, providing more up-front instruction on how the technology works and ensuring a smoother conference experience for both in-person and virtual attendees. Lastly, we are exploring bringing back dual track presentations if abstract submission numbers allow it. The SPC is soliciting keynotes for the 2024 conference and welcomes all suggestions for potential topics and/or speakers from our biosafety community. Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2023 conference and provided feedback for the SPC, we are already looking forward to November!

Chair: Paul Meechan
Co-Chair: John Henneman

The Credentialing Evaluation Board (CEB) continues to meet monthly to review applications for certification as Registered Biosafety Professionals (RBP) and Certified Biological Safety Professionals (CBSP). As a reminder, February 1, 2024, is the deadline for submitting CBSP exam applications.

Webinars, Recordings, On-demand Modules

Available for Purchase:

• 66th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Hybrid Conference
  • Available until: October 13, 2024
• Course 6V: Selection and Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • For sale until: January 27, 2024
• Course 7V: Laboratory Facility Programming and Design Best Practices
  • For sale until: February 13, 2024

Other Upcoming Opportunities for Professional Development Include:

• The Risk Assessment Process: A Survival Guide
  • January 18 and February 1, 2024
• What is Biosecurity? Why is it Important?
  • January 25, 2024
• Battling Professional Burnout by Taking Control of Your Biosafety Career
  • February 14 and 21, 2024
• Prevent and Manage Amplicon Contamination in Laboratories
  • February 29, 2024
• Biosafety and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): How to Live in Harmony
  • March 6, 2024
• HPAI and Mammals
  • April 9, 2024
• Fundamentals of Microbiology and Infectious Disease
  • May 2 and 9, 2024
• Concepts of Virology
  • June 11 and 18, 2024
• Large-scale Biosafety
  • July 17 and 24, 2024
• Molecular Biology 101
  • August 7 and 14, 2024
• Virus-based Gene Transfer Vectors
  • September 12 and 19, 2024

On-demand:
Advanced Biosafety Training Series
Basic Disinfection On-demand Module
Basic Biosafety On-demand Module
ABSA Learning Verification Opportunities
Coming Soon – Autoclave Basics!

Questions related to courses, please email education@absa.org.
For additional courses and events, please visit ABSA International’s Biosafety Calendar.

Thanks to the Public Relations/Marketing Committee, ABSA has promotional videos for ABSA and our ABSA Conference. The videos can be found on the ABSA website and on ABSA International’s YouTube channel. Also, ABSA’s YouTube channel has video interviews of conference presenters and keynotes. Feel free to share the video, use it in presentations, or link to it from your websites.

The Job Board allows employers to connect with biosafety and biosecurity professionals and has opportunities available to continue to advance their career. Employers who post a position will gain access to some of the top professionals in the biosafety and biosecurity field. If you would like to post to the Job Board or find out more about the opportunities, visit the ABSA Job Board page.

The 14-book series published between 1999 and 2015 addresses biosafety in different settings:

I: Perspectives on Laboratory Design
II: Facility Design Considerations
III: Application of Principles
IV: Issues in Public Health
V: BSL-4 Laboratories
VI: Arthropod Borne Diseases
VII: Biosafety Level 3
VIII: Evolving Issues in Containment
IX: Exploring the Performance Envelope for BSL-3 and BSL-4 Laboratories
X: Animal Biosafety
XI: Worker Health and Safety Issues
XII: Managing Challenges for Safe Operations of BSL-3/ABSL-3 Facilities
XIII: Animal Production and Protection – Challenges, Risks, and Best Practices
XIV: Sustainability

ABSA Members must be signed in to download individual chapters of interest. Click here for more information.

In alignment with our core organizational values, ABSA International (ABSA) encourages positive connections between biosafety professionals, scientists, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the public. It is our organization's policy to administer all activities without discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, marital/familial status, and veteran status. These practices extend to all aspects of ABSA’s activities and to all roles within the association (e.g., member, ambassador, employee, mentor, sponsor, and vendor).