When scientists want to study potentially dangerous pathogens—bacteria, viruses, or other organisms that can cause disease—they need to use specialized laboratory spaces. At the Ragon Institute, our state-of-the-art Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory is where experiments can be performed on pathogens that have the potential to cause serious or even fatal infections. This resource has been important for the study of emerging infectious disease outbreaks such as SARS-CoV-2 and monkeypox over the past two years, and it allows scientists from all over the Greater Boston area and beyond to work together on indispensable research.
