Past events & courses

What is exactly new about ‘new techniques’ and are these ‘new’ techniques inherently associated with ‘new’ risks? What is synthetic biology and to which extent its areas of research become part of current research conducted by your colleagues ? What are the aspects a biosafety officer should look for when conducting a risk assessment? What is meant by ‘safety by design’ and what are possibilities and limitations?

Recent breaches of biosafety and biosecurity have emphasised that management failure is normally the root cause of accidents and incidents with biological agents and toxins. Implementation of a systematic biorisk management system, e.g. adopting the CWA 15793 can help organisations manage these risks. 

Management of risks related to activities with hazardous biological material, be it research, development, production or diagnostics, requires risk assessment at various stages of the activity. To begin with, the hazards of the various biological materials used need to be estimated. Techniques of genetic engineering allow for significant reconstruction of organisms involving synthetic DNA and RNA, viral vectors, plasmids and inserts from all sorts of different organisms. 

UNamur, Auditorium B07, Rue de Bruxelles 65, BE-5000 Namur Registration in mandatory

KU Leuven, Departement of Biosystems, Room SEG 01.19, W. de Croylaan 42, BE-3001 Heverlee Registration is mandatory

EBSA17 Conference - Ghent

This introductory course is for  safety professionals or managers having +5 years of professional experience. In this highly interactive course attendees will systematically gain insight in the principles of behavior based safety and gradually learn to set up the foundations of a behavior based safety management system. Attendees will receive some practical guidance on how to promote safe behavior.

The vast majority of biologists enter the field because they have a passion to make the world better by understanding organisms and the systems they live in.  We dream of improving the world's health through combatting disease, improving nutrition and protecting species and the environment.

Building new containment facilities or revamping existing biological laboratories is generally an important step in the development of an organization. It is also a challenge for all those involved in the project, including the laboratory users and the biorisk management advisor.