State lab rushing $9.2M expansion to help with COVID-19

CORALVILLE — The University of Iowa has until June 30, 2023, to complete a federally funded $9.2 million expansion of its State Hygienic Lab, which has served Iowa’s public health needs for more than a century and processed about 1.6 million COVID-19 specimens over the past nearly two years.

Construction of a new level 3 biosafety lab and additional space, unveiled this week, will allow the Coralville-based lab to consolidate its “high-throughput COVID-19 testing into one location,” including wastewater testing for evidence of viral spread in building-sharing populations, such as residence halls.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is fully funding the project through a $9.2 million grant aimed at helping facilities “establish or expand capacity to quickly, accurately and safely test for (COVID-19) and build infectious disease preparedness for future events involving other pathogens.”

Stringent grant requirements mandate the project be finished — with all billings processed and paid — by June 30, 2023, according to the Board of Regents, which is planning to consider approving project planning and construction methods next week.

“In order to meet that CDC deadline, the university must advance the design process, and order equipment at the earliest possible date,” according to board documents. “The UI estimates that board approval … at the January 2022 meeting would afford the time needed to fast track the project and meet the grant requirements.”

Although the university hasn’t aired square footage details of the proposed expansion, officials report plans to build onto the east end of the existing structure — meaning they won’t need to renovate existing lab space, according to regent documents.

“The construction will help redesign the space utilization so that the lab can be more efficient and be ready for high-volume testing in the future,” State Hygienic Lab Director Michael Pentella said in a statement.

“The upgrade will also provide more office space so staff don’t have to share desks as much, helping reduce the risk of COVID and other respiratory virus spread within the lab itself.”

Biosafety level 3 labs are used to study infectious agents or toxins that can spread through the air, with researchers performing experiments in a biosafety cabinet, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The labs are designed to be easily decontaminated, with controlled air flow; entry through two self-closing doors; sealed windows, floors, and walls; and filtered ventilation systems.

The labs decontaminate waste using an incinerator or something similar.

The State Hygienic Lab — founded in 1904 — built its main facilities in 2010 at the UI Research Park, about five miles from Iowa City in Coralville. It processes more than 1,500 tests a day for activities such as disease detection, environmental monitoring, and newborn and maternal screening.

It also serves as a reference lab in the CDC’s biological and chemical Laboratory Response Network, supporting homeland security agencies in Iowa, and as a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Emergency Response Network — both of which mandate a biosafety level 3 lab.

The need for that level of lab is increasing, and Pentella said the extra space also will yield more room for storage of materials used to assemble Test Iowa COVID home kits and to analyze specimens.

“It’s a series of dominoes,” he said. “But this lab will serve the state of Iowa for the long-term, not just for the current pandemic.”

As the designated lab for Test Iowa — a partnership with the Iowa Department of Public Health to ensure Iowans can access free COVID-19 testing — the State Hygienic Lab has processed about 1.6 million COVID tests since early 2020 and is seeing skyrocketing demand, with new variants circulating.

The unexpected pandemic in 2020 forced the lab to promptly convert its building’s education conference center and training lab into a new testing area to house incoming equipment and to train and house new workers.

The lab’s creative use of space so far has met its COVID-19 demands, according to associate lab director Wade Aldous, who wrote the CDC grant proposal. But he also noted the makeshift adjustments resulted in a “less-than-ideal” workspace configuration — from where test kits are dropped and cataloged to where they’re processed and results are reported.

“The addition of this new lab space not only will improve workflow efficiency for our employees but will better enable us to serve the needs of Iowans,” Aldous said.

Although the Board of Regents has in place a moratorium on any new construction adding to the net square footage across its campuses, it included several exceptions — such as for projects funded entirely by private donations or grants.

According to UI bid documents, which went out Dec. 27, schematic design wrapped in November; construction management proposals are due Jan. 13; a selection will come in February, when design documents will be done; and construction will begin in the spring.

Unrelated to the lab expansion, the Board of Regents is asking lawmakers — as part of its annual appropriations request — to up its state lab support by $1 million for “staff compensation, staff retention and recruitment, updated lab instruments, and insurance maintenance contracts for critical equipment.”

“Salary increases are critical as the statistics show that the public health lab work force is aging and retiring with fewer new professionals seeking public health labs as a place of employment,” according to the regents appropriations ask. “The (lab) must be prepared to rapidly respond to a variety of threats against both human and environmental health, using the latest technology and competent staff.”

If granted, that $1 million increase would up the Legislature’s State Hygienic Lab appropriation from $4.8 million to $5.8 million a year.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com