The Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, (IRF-Frederick) is part of the Office of the Chief Scientist for the Division of Clinical Research (DCR) in the NIAID Office of the Director.
Mission Statement
The mission of the OCSIRF is to serve as a responsive and collaborative resource that facilitates multidisciplinary research to understand, treat, prevent, and eradicate diseases caused by novel, emerging, and highly virulent viruses.
The IRF-Frederick serves as a collaborative resource for internal (NIAID) and extramural investigators to conduct research on viruses, such as those causing high-consequence disease (e.g., Ebola and SARS-CoV-2) and many other viruses included on the NIAID Priority Pathogens list.
The IRF-Frederick has the capability to conduct biosafety level (BSL)-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4 research. It is one of the few facilities in the world able to perform medical imaging to evaluate animals in BSL-4 containment. These unique features enable the comparison of various exposure routes for either naturally occurring or deliberately released viral pathogens.
In addition to animal models of disease, the IRF-Frederick uses innovative approaches—including high-throughput drug screening, targeted genomic sequencing, custom immunological and serological analyses, and organ-chip model development—to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and assess candidate medical countermeasure efficacy.
Read more about the IRF-Frederick.