The National Laboratory of Biotechnology (NLB) was established in 2020 under the technical leadership of the Szeged Biological Research Centre (BRC) of the ELKH for the development of unique technologies and therapeutic methods in Hungary. The laboratory has now been expanded with a new building, which cost HUF 650 million to build and contains HUF 150 million worth of equipment. The new facility was inaugurated on May 25, 2022 by Katalin Sebők, Vice President for Business Innovation at National Research, Development and Innovation Office, and Ferenc Nagy, Director General of the BRC. Research work is scheduled to start in the new building in early August.
The professional work at the National Laboratory of Biotechnology aims to use state-of-the-art biotechnology tools to develop new, competitive therapeutic methods and technologies to combat drug-resistant bacteria, produce mRNA-based vaccines and discover new drug molecules for the treatment of rare diseases. The laboratory also investigates the global problems of epidemics caused by infectious diseases, in particular antibiotic resistance and swine fever.
The new facility, as the most modern laboratory complex of the BRC, is unique in Szeged in having BSL-3, i.e. biosafety level 3 laboratories, so it will be able to work with dangerous pathogens as well, said Ferenc Nagy, Director General of the BRC. He added that the NLB is looking for unique solutions to global problems that can be used not only in Hungary but also abroad.