For
the past three years, Layne and Beugelsdijk have been working
to generate a sufficient critical mass of interest to turn the
automated laboratories into a reality. In September 1998, the
two researchers published an article in Nature Biotechnology explaining
the automated-laboratory concept and its potential for infectious-disease
research and beating the bioterrorist. In an accompanying editorial,
the Nature editors called the idea "an attempt at creating
a coordinated plan for dealing with big problems - like biological
warfare - that require big biological solutions" and suggested
that it's time for the biotechnology industry, the medical community
and the various governments to get on the bandwagon. The editorial
characterized the existing U.S. government plans as the "equivalent
of having the citizenry rush to their basements and throw their
arms up over their heads during a nuclear war," and the Layne
and Beugelsdijk proposal as the kind of plan that has "at
least a chance of being effective."
In April
1999, Layne, Beugelsdijk and C. Kumar Patel, then vice chancellor
for research at UCLA, hosted a two-day workshop at the National
Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., titled "Automation
in Threat Reduction and Infectious Disease Research: Needs and
New Directions." A book on the meeting will be published
this year by the National Academy Press. Layne has also been given
permission by UCLA to approach foundations for the $20 million
to $30 million in funding required to build one laboratory, ideally
for influenza, as a proof of principle - put together the modules,
design the software and the database - and then start the design
on more laboratories.
"What
we really need are dual-use labs that can deal with natural outbreaks
and mitigate malicious acts," says Layne. "We'll never
know if lightning will strike, and a lot of people now say it's
not a matter of if, but when. The conclusion I've come to is the
same as most experts in this field: By the time there is a bioterrorist
event in this country, it's too late to prepare for it. We will
need to act fast to save lives. These labs will give us the ability
to do that." Los Angeles writer Gary Taubes is a contributing
editor to Discover magazine.
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