By Merin C. MacDonald  | Date published: September 13, 2024

Hardy Kornfeld Awarded Funding to Expand Core Laboratories at UMass Chan

Hardy Kornfeld, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, has received funding to facilitate the expansion of biosafety-level 3 (BSL-3) core laboratories at UMass Chan Medical School. The newly constructed space will enable investigators to perform critical research on level 3 viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, and emerging viruses of pandemic potential, while also enhancing the capacity and resilience of the BSL-3 core laboratories at UMass Chan.

Dr. Kornfeld currently serves as director of the BSL-3 core laboratories at UMass Chan, where he oversees daily operations. Commenting on the impact of the award, he said, “This new NIH C06 award will fund a significant expansion of the BSL-3 core laboratories on campus with the creation of a new, 3,077 net square foot, laboratory suite to complement the existing 3,554 square foot BSL-3 core facility. The addition of this space is needed to accommodate the growing number of research groups working with level 3 pathogens spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as major new research grant awards to UMass Chan investigators.”

The two in vivo BSL-3 suites, combined with a comparably sized ABSL-3 animal facility operated by the Department of Animal Medicine, will position UMass Chan as “one of the best-resourced institutions for level 3 pathogen research in New England,” according to Dr. Kornfeld.