The Centre for Applied Molecular Technologies (CTMA) of Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium) is a mixed academic-clinical biotechnological platform, with strong research activities in infectious diseases, amongst which deep sequencing and diagnostic for on-site use and news tests to identify biowarfare agents (in partnership with the Belgian Defence and international military and civilian networks. CTMA developed and owns an operational deployable analytical capacity – a Rapid Response Mobile Laboratory (RRML) of Type II (box-based laboratory) for identification of life-threatening pathogens with extensive practical use of the mobile capacity in response to health crises (Summary given in Table 1 and table 2):
- Monkeypox oubreak in Kasaï, DR, 2009 (Ref 1).
- Detection of Bacillus anthracis in field samples, Pionki, Poland (Ref 2).
- Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2015, N’Zerekore, Guinea (Ref 3-5).
- Deployment in Piedmont Region in Italy in June-July 2020 for COVID-19 pandemic response (Ref 6, 7).
- International training exercises:
- DG ECHO ERCC EUCPM MODEX in 2017, Sweden
- WHO/GOARN series of exercises within SimEx programme for RRMLs:
- a virtual table-top exercise (V-TTX, 31 August to 02 September 2021)
- a virtual functional exercise (V-FX, 05 to 07 October 2021),
- a field exercise for RRMLs (11 to 15 October 2021) in Kazan, Russia
- A training mission to strengthen Moldovan capacity building (19-24 Sept 2022, Chisinau, Moldova)
Table 1: Participation of B-LiFE to outbreaks containment and international exercises
The UCLouvain’s B-LiFE capacity has a public health and CBRN focus. In 2009, it was deployed during monkeypox outbreak in Kasai and in 2014, in Guinea during the West Africa Ebola outbreak, in 2021 in Piedmont, Italy during the COVID-19 crisis, and in Chisinau, Moldova to provide local mobile lab training to Moldovan biologists .
Table 2: Development and deployment of Rapidly fieldable capacity: B-LiFE
CTMA’s expertise is based on its large experience as practitioner, technology provider and EU collaborative projects manager, being coordinator and partner in multiple EU FP7 and Horizon 2020 security projects in the field of health (PANDEM, PANDEM-II – Pandemic Preparedness and Response) and CBRN (MIRACLE – Mobile Laboratory for the Rapid Assessment of CBRN Threats Located within and outside the EU, eNOTICE – EU Network of CBRN Training Centres, ENCIRCLE – European CBRN Innovation for the Market Cluster), and the new European project MOBVEC (Mobile Bio-Lab to support first response in Arbovirus outbreaks).
The list of EU projects supporting the development of B-LiFE is given in the Table 3
Table 3: CTMA coordination or participation to European projects with a focus on Public Health, biothreats assessment, and B-LiFE mobile laboratory
ARTES: Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems; CSA: Coordination & Support Action; DRS: Disaster Resilience & Climate Change topic; IA: Innovation Action;
IAP: Integrated Applications Promotion programme; SEC: Security; EIC: European Innovation Council.
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