MANHATTAN—Two administrators at Kansas State University’s BRI—Biosecurity Research Institute—recently gained some new responsibilities.
MANHATTAN—Two administrators at Kansas State University’s BRI—Biosecurity Research Institute—recently gained some new responsibilities.
The BRI’s associate director, Scott Rusk, has advanced to become director of Pat Roberts Hall, while biosafety officer Julie Johnson has been promoted to assistant vice president for research compliance for K-State.
Rusk will coordinate facility validation, operational oversight and policy development to ensure that Pat Roberts Hall – which houses the BRI – is fully functional, and that the facilities are operating in accordance with applicable regulations and industry standards for working with the infectious disease research programs in the building. He will supervise support staff working in the facility and coordinate facility operations with research and education activities conducted in the BRI.
Rusk has more than 20 years of experience. Before coming to K-State in 2006, he was assistant center director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center – the department’s largest animal disease research facility. He also worked as a biocontainment specialist for Flad and Associates.
In Johnson’s new role, she’ll continue as biosafety officer for the BRI, but will assume some universitywide duties, including biosafety oversight of high-containment research projects. A certified biological safety professional, she came to K-State in 2006 after more than 10 years as the campus biosafety officer at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where she built a comprehensive biosafety program. As a Ph.D. molecular biologist, she also has extensive lab experience, which enables her to effectively implement safety policies and practices.
Rusk and Johnson also will lead the biocontainment and biosafety components of the BRI’s training and education programs.
Lisa Freeman, associate vice president of innovation for the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus, Inc., also will be acting director of the BRI. Former director James Stack has decided to dedicate more time to research and to pursue national and international opportunities that have come his way. Stack is director of the Great Plains Diagnostic Network and is a professor of plant pathology.
The BRI is the only research and training facility in the U.S. that can accommodate veterinary medicine, plant pathology, food safety and molecular biology research under one roof. This allows for a more comprehensive approach in researching threats to the nation’s food supply.
Pat Roberts Hall is a research facility as well as an advanced training and education facility, complete with an integrated training suite. That suite contains a simulated biosafety level 3 lab and classroom setting that allow for hands-on training. Marty Vanier, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center, will be working closely with the BRI to promote its integrated training suite.
Federal-level training sessions have started at the BRI, with research slated for this spring.
Posted by: Steve Toburen
Posted Date: Mar 6 2008