Frequently Asked Questions
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization has some of the most advanced high containment research and development capacity in the world. The following document highlights some questions we are routinely asked.
Why is infectious disease research important?
Emerging infectious diseases continually threaten the health of people and animals and impact the global economy. It is estimated that three pathogens emerge every year, and one of them will lead to a larger epidemic every three years. This ongoing threat underlines the need to be able to rapidly respond to these pathogens to limit their impact.
Why should this work be done at VIDO?
VIDO has half a century of experience safely conducting infectious disease research and developing vaccines. This has been demonstrated historically with eight of VIDO’s technologies sold in commercial vaccines, two additional vaccines that have been licensed to companies for commercial development, one vaccine currently in human clinical trials and one more in clinical development. VIDO now conducts its infectious disease research and vaccine development in one of the largest most advanced containment facilities in the world. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and expertise we can help prepare Canada for any new human or animal pathogen and help ensure a rapid response.
What is Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research?
During the pandemic VIDO recognized that it could play a much stronger role in Canada’s pandemic preparedness strategy. To do this critical work VIDO is expanding its capabilities including:
- Establishing the Vaccine Development Centre, a containment level 3 capable biomanufacturing facility that meets good manufacturing practice requirements—one of only a few in the world.
- Adding containment level 4 capacity to enable work with all infectious diseases.
- Building a new animal facility capable of housing a wider range of animals to expand our preclinical research and development capacity.
- Building our scientific team to expand our expertise and providing training opportunities to develop the next generation of scientists, laboratory and animal care technicians.
We termed the collection of this new capacity as “Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research.” Ultimately it will help lead the country’s response to emerging infectious diseases and help ensure Canadians are protected against future pandemics.
What is “containment” in an infectious disease laboratory context?
“Containment” describes the safety measures, operational practices, facility design and equipment needed to ensure the scientific team, surrounding community, and the environment are safe when studying certain types of disease-causing organisms. Each level of containment requires specific laboratory practices, safety equipment and facilities.
There are 4 levels of containment— level 1 is the lowest, these labs work with agents that don’t normally cause diseases in healthy humans. Level 2 labs study moderate-risk agents or toxins including illnesses like flu, RSV and hepatitis. Level 3 labs are for agents that can cause potentially lethal infections including illnesses like tuberculosis and West Nile virus. Level 4 is the highest with labs studying infectious agents that pose a high risk of transmission for life-threatening diseases that don’t have vaccines or therapies, Ebola and Nipah virus for example.
Both the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will license our CL4 capacity and regulate our research activities with RG4 pathogens.
What animals do you work with?
We currently work with animals as small as mice and as large as bison.
When construction is complete on our new animal housing facility, anticipated in 2026, it will expand the number of animals we can work with to include ticks, mosquitos, reptiles and bats.
VIDO takes great care to ensure the ethical and humane treatment of animals. Our veterinarians are licensed by the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association and all research with animals is completed in accordance with the requirements of the University Animal Care Committee (UACC) and the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). VIDO has a CCAC Certificate of GAP – Good Animal Practice®.
How do you ensure safety?
Ensuring safety is our top priority. VIDO has an impeccable safety record spanning close to 50 years, including nine years of containment level 3 (CL3) operations. This includes strict administrative controls, rigorous biosafety training, state-of-the-art equipment, and specifically engineered building features protect VIDO’s personnel and the surrounding community.
Preventative maintenance is a key element in ensuring optimal facility operations. All mechanical systems include redundant capacity. This means that each key operational system has at least one backup.
All air entering and exiting the facility passes through a series of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters that remove the pathogens. All waste is sterilized before leaving the facility.
In addition, facility access is highly restricted and controlled. There are multiple monitoring cameras, on-site security and biometrics. All personnel working with, or having access to, security sensitive biological agents (SSBAs) at VIDO have received clearance by the Government of Canada under the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act (HPTA).
Are incidents reported?
Any incidents occurring in high containment are recorded by the VIDO Biosafety Team and reported to the Government of Canada, VIDO’s senior leadership team, VIDO Community Liaison Committee and the University of Saskatchewan.
Who do I contact if I have questions about VIDO?
VIDO is conducting a community consultation, including a series of focus groups with community organizations and public discussion boards to inform and gain feedback.
In addition, an independent Community Liaison Committee (CLC) is established and includes key leaders in the local community. The CLC helps ensure open and transparent communication on safety.
You can contact VIDO or members of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC) with questions.