Biosecurity in Laboratory Animal Facilities Supporting Agricultural Research: Concepts and Practical Applications

Biosecurity in laboratory animal facilities supporting agricultural research is often viewed as a means of preventing the introduction, transmission, or release of infectious agents. These functions remain essential in facilities housing livestock, poultry, aquaculture species, and laboratory animal models used to investigate agricultural priorities. Such research supports the development and evaluation of veterinary medicines, diagnostic methods, feed and nutrition strategies, and interventions intended to improve animal health, food safety, and the management of agricultural environments. Biosecurity failures can therefore affect research animals and personnel, compromise experimental validity, and create pathways by which infectious agents or contaminated materials could reach other animal populations or the surrounding environment. Effective biosecurity requires a broader, system-based perspective. Laboratory animal facilities are complex operational environments in which animals, personnel, biological materials, equipment, facilities, infrastructure, information, and research activities are interdependent. Failure in one area can have consequences for animal health and welfare, worker safety, physical security, facility operations, and research quality and integrity. This manuscript presents an integrated framework for biosecurity in laboratory animal facilities that support agricultural research and distinguishes biosecurity from related concepts, including biosafety and biocontainment. The framework is organized into five interrelated domains: (1) biocontainment, (2) animal health, (3) worker safety (biosafety), (4) physical security, and (5) research quality and integrity. Across these domains, biosecurity involves identifying vulnerabilities, assessing risks and potential consequences, implementing risk-based controls, monitoring their effectiveness, and responding appropriately when controls fail. Examples involving poultry and livestock research illustrate how the framework can be applied to animal procurement and quarantine, personnel and equipment movement, disease surveillance, waste and environmental management, and protection of research resources. This system-based approach integrates biosecurity into facility design and operations; animal procurement and movement; personnel practices; equipment management; animal health surveillance; emergency preparedness; training; incident response; and program oversight. It helps protect research animals and personnel, preserve valuable biological resources, minimize operational disruptions, and reduce preventable sources of experimental variability.