# Facilities Management, Maintenance and Operation Core

> **NIH NIH UC7** · GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $1,852,377

## Abstract

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT, MAINTENANCE, AND OPERATIONS CORE: ABSTRACT
The productivity of the investigators for which George Mason University’s (GMU) Biomedical
Research Lab (BRL) supports, is directly correlated with limited interruptions to access
containment laboratories and the equipment within them to conduct innovative infectious
disease research. The BRL has a facilities management and operations structure as well as
processes in place that have enabled consistent certification since the BRL was approved by
the CDC to conduct BSL-3 and Select Agent work in 2012. Furthermore, the BRL’s Select Agent
registration was renewed for three years in February 2023.
As the BRL transitioned from a college to a university level core facility in the Institute for
Biohealth Innovation in March 2022, a GAP analysis was completed by internal stakeholders
and separately by Facility Dynamics Engineering. Collectively, these exercises identified
opportunities for improvement to ensure that the facility, which is currently twelve years old, is
properly maintained and appropriately staffed. The Facilities Management, Maintenance, and
Operations core will implement a comprehensive BSL-3 facilities preventative maintenance and
upgrade plan to ensure continuity of operations, continued compliance with federal regulations,
and a safe and secure facility. This upgrade will include succession planning for continuity of
facilities and operations leadership and incorporation of training for facilities engineers and
facilities leadership. An effectively managed facility with expanded training opportunities, will
ensure efficient utilization of laboratories, enable advanced knowledge of new and existing
systems, continued certification of the BRL, staff retention, and support overall safety of staff
and the environment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10910212
- **Project number:** 5UC7AI180261-02
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Farhang Alem
- **Activity code:** UC7 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,852,377
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-18 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10910212

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10910212, Facilities Management, Maintenance and Operation Core (5UC7AI180261-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10910212. Licensed CC0.

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