Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research (LRC, ka, რიჩარდ ლუგარის სახელობის საზოგადოებრივი ჯანდაცვის კვლევითი ცენტრი) is a research center (laboratory) based on the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, which was commissioned in 2011 and fully opened in August 2013. The LRC is the highest level of laboratory network in the country, representing the public health system referral library.Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research
/ref> The LRC is one of the best field of scientific biomedical and biosafety researches and preparation of students. The Center is accredited for graduate-level education, and has a BSL-3 facility.

History

Since the

Soviet period The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

, there have been various biological laboratories in Georgia, such as "Anti-

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

Georgian Station", which is located in

Saburtalo Saburtalo might refer to: *Saburtalo Pantheon, burial site in Tbilisi, Georgia *Saburtalo Line, metro line in Tbilisi, Georgia * FC Saburtalo Tbilisi, football club in Tbilisi, Georgia *Saburtalo District Saburtalo is an administrative district ( ...

district of Tbilisi, and is now the " National Center for Disease Control and Public Health", since 1937 the Soviets worked on dangerous pathogens. The construction of the current center was launched in 2004, after the US Government and the Government of Georgia signed a MOU between the DTRA and the

Ministry of Defense of Georgia The Ministry of Defense of Georgia (, ''sakartvelos tavdatsvis saministro'') is the Georgian government ministry in charge of the Defense Forces of Georgia and regulating activities in defence of the country from external threats, preserving te ...

. The full name of the Agreement was "Cooperation in the field of prevention of the introduction of pathogenesis and experience related to biological weapons development". The US government did not want the Soviet period scientists working on the biological weapons, in case the knowledge would get to such countries of the world as

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. Nobody wanted Georgia to be the source of biological weapons-related technologies or pathogens. The LRC was opened in 2011, and it was fully operational from August 2013. The LRC is the highest level institution of laboratory network of country, which is a public health system referral laboratory. The above-mentioned agreement has been implemented in the field of human and animal health and biosafety, by which in the last 13 years by the financial and technical assistance program, total cost of which is approximately 350 million USD in 2018. Within the framework of this program, the biosafety laboratory network equipped with modern equipments, and was designed to diagnose pathogens causing human and animal hazardous diseases. Ownership of the LRC has since fully passed on to Government of Georgia, and since 2018 the Georgia provides full funding for the LRC and Laboratory Network. The Center played a key role as a diagnostic facility during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Georgia.

Allegations

The LRC came to notice in 2017, when Russian authorities repeatedly alleged that the center was engaged in biological weapons development for the United States. The

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

called these allegations ”groundless” and reaffirmed that “all U.S. activities (...) ereconsistent with the obligations set forth in the

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...

”. Biological weapons expert

Filippa Lentzos Filippa Lentzos is a Norwegian social scientist researching threats posed by biological agents. She is a senior research fellow at King's College London, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine and the De ...

agreed that the Russian allegations were “unfounded” and commented that they are “part of a disinformation campaign”. Similarly, Swedish biodefense specialists Roger Roffey and Anna-Karin Tunemalm called the allegations ”a Russian propaganda tool”.

References

{{authority control Medical research institutes in Georgia