Army secretary tours Fort Detrick laboratory

小明小明

The secretary of the Army visited Fort Detrick on Thursday in order to learn more about the work being done to combat COVID-19.

In a biosafety level 3 laboratory, a scientist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases worked with a sample of a new coronavirus, officially called SARS-CoV-2.

USAMRIID received a sample of the virus from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Kathleen Gibson, chief of the Core Laboratory Services Division at USAMRIID.

Researchers at the laboratory are cultivating the virus in order to have enough for future tests and other needs. That can include making sure a test result is correct. At USAMRIID, the virus is multiplied, purified and then divided among projects, Gibson said.