Class III Biological Safety Cabinets: Importance of Hands-on Training

Practical training is particularly useful for students that plan to work in high containment situations. While many students have access to Class II Biosafety Cabinets, too few are able to get hands-on experience with a Class III Biological Safety Cabinet. Class III BSC's require a familiarization with a wide range of equipment features and configurations such as: Gloves & Gloveports, Pass-throughs / Airlocks, Rapid Transfer Ports, Autoclaves, Decontamination Systems, etc.

Class III BSC Demo

Germfree maintains a Class III BSC training unit at their headquarters. Germfree also participates in student training programs with other facilities, providing institutions with Class III BSC's and other bio-containment equipment to give their students hands-on experience and training in proper technique.  For example, Germfree's Biological Safety Cabinets have been used for training in university settings such as The Emory University Science and Safety Training Program as well as workshops in conference settings such as ABSA's Annual Biological Safety Conference.   

Cliff Colby Demonstrating a Class III Biosafety Cabinet

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Cliff Colby is VP of Sales at Germfree. He has more than 12 years experience as a Biosafety Instructor. He has also worked extensively on multi-media biosafety training materials. And if you want to discuss applications that require chemical containment, his background as a Chemist will also come in handy.

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 The BioTechnical Institute of Maryland  provides training for students that want to enter the biotech field.  According to the BTI website, the institute "fills a need for specialty scientific training of entry-level biotechnicians for employment in Maryland's rapidly expanding biotechnology industry.  The BTI Laboratory Associates Program provides tuition-free training in basic laboratory skills to bright, ambitious, unemployed and under-employed Maryland residents. "