MICE Phase II
Focus Area: Risk Prevention & Risk Response
Project Title: Multi-Laboratory International Collaboration Environment
Status: Complete (2020)
Overview: Through a strong partnership with Texas A&M University’s Texas Center for Applied Technology (TCAT) and with funding support from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, IIAD worked in close coordination with a steering committee (i.e., composed of representatives from federal and state/university laboratories, National Animal Health Laboratory Network management, and other stakeholder groups key to the successful implementation of this effort) to establish and demonstrate the efficacy of a Multi-Laboratory International Collaboration Environment (MICE). The Phase I project successfully investigated, implemented, piloted, and evaluated a virtual collaborative environment that helped improve communication, coordination, and collaboration between state/university and federal animal health diagnostic and research biocontainment laboratories. The purpose of MICE Phase II project is to further identify, study, and demonstrate the ability to improve coordination and collaboration internally within a high containment laboratory as well as externally to emergency responders. This effort aims to build on the Phase I effort and assess system enhancements, formalize system specifications, and further demonstrate system value to stakeholders and end-users. Constructing a specification framework depicting how to deploy these types of capabilities, as well as a demonstration of the effectiveness and impact these technologies have within high containment laboratories, can prove valuable and assist in modernizing current laboratories and guiding IT procurement and implementation for future construction of laboratories. This has potential application within the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) currently under development. NBAF is the next-generation, state-of-the-art biocontainment laboratory for the study of diseases that threaten both the nation’s animal agricultural industry and public health. The MICE technology will offer a demonstrated solution for national and global collaboration with this unique facility once it is operational.
Project Duration: 9/28/2018 – 12/27/2021
IIAD Project Team: Sarah Caffey
Outcomes, Solution, & Impact: TBD
