George Mellen, P.E., Chief Engineer, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Batten Down the Hatches

A brief tutorial on strategies for containing biosafety labs The design of high-containment biosafety laboratories is not as simple as it may look. Federal guidelines from the National Institute of Health provide a starting point, but the information may be misleading. The most significant issue is that the laboratory's air pressure can never go positive.