Past events & courses

The role of a biosafety professional (BSP) within an institution is a challenging position. In addition, a BSP very often plays the interface between different activities within a facility including animal handling, engineering, maintenance and cleaning.

2 days of EBSA pre conference courses on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 April 2023 2 days of EBSA conference on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 April 2023. Check out the full program the speakers location And register

Essential elements of and metholodolgies to perform risk assessment Assessing the risk of biological materials (microorganisms, cells, tissues) Evaluating the risk of procedures/activities Defining measures to control/minimize the risk (containment, GMT, PPE, training)

The application of appropriate decontamination methods is the key element in reducing surface contamination in the laboratory to prevent laboratory-acquired infections and cross contamination in the laboratory.

Working with an animal model of infection means introducing an additional risk into the infection chain.   Not only the animals need to be handled appropriately to reduce a potential risk to the scientist, the equipment also plays a major role in minimising risk during individual infection experiments.  Infection models with obligate pathogenic human germs must be treated carefully and calmly. The 3Rs of laboratory animal science are not only a guarantee for ethically sound experiments, but also serve the safety of the researchers.  This course is rated as advanced. Therefore basic knowledge of Biosafety is a prerequisite as well as initial knowledge in working with animals.

Sadly, accidents will always happen. They can be prevented, but only if we take care to understand how and why they happen. Their impact can be reduced, but only if we take time to prepare. Gaining that understanding and having a plan are key safety processes. 

Even though national and international regulations provide a framework on how to work safely with a certain pathogen or hazard, specific risk assessments are indispensable to identify appropriate safety measures to ensure that the risk associated with working with biological agents is on an acceptable level. This course will set out the principles of a risk assessment process, addressing the definition of key steps, risk evaluation and identification of high-risk laboratory procedures or selection of risk control measures.

The online course will provide an up-to-date overview of the use of modern targeted genetic engineering technology in plants, focusing on the CRISPR/Cas system. It  provides an overview of the different methods used, the types of genetic and epigenetic modifications that can be achieved, their applications and consequences. The consequences will also be discussed in the GMO regulatory context and with regards to potential  risks and uncertainties.

This online course will describe how aerosols are formed and infect people.    The types of equipment to generate and measure aerosols will be described as will a review of information used to inform risk assessments for the generation and spread of aerosols.