Overview

• The Integrated Research Facility (IRF) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, has ceased all experimental work as of April 29, following an HHS-mandated safety stand-down.
• The pause was prompted by documented personnel issues that compromised the facility's safety culture, according to NIH officials.
• The IRF, a critical BSL-4 lab studying high-consequence pathogens like Ebola and SARS-CoV-2, is one of the few globally capable of animal medical imaging in such research.
• Connie Schmaljohn, the lab's director, has been placed on administrative leave, and biosafety freezers in the facility have been padlocked by the Department of Homeland Security.
• The stand-down coincides with broader federal health agency restructuring under RFK Jr., including 10,000 job cuts, raising concerns about long-term impacts on global health research.