The University of Hawaii plans to build a $47.5 million biosafety laboratory specializing in infectious diseases at Kalaeloa in West Oahu.

The Pacific Health Research Lab at Kalaeloa will employ up to 20 people to focus on early detection and vaccine research for potentially deadly diseases from the Asia-Pacific region, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), dengue and antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and influenza.

The lab will bring to West Oahu high-paying technology jobs, which are in short supply, especially since the Hawaii Medical Center in Ewa was closed Dec. 28.

The lab was originally going to be built in Kakaako next to the John A. Burns School of Medicine, but that space was instead used for the UH Cancer Center. Before Kakaako the lab was proposed for Wai­mano above Pearl City.

The facility has finally found a home at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.

The National Institute of Health is providing a $32.5 million grant. The remaining $15 million will come from the state.

"Hawaii is particularly vulnerable to the introduction of exotic pathogens because of its geographical location, high frequency of travelers from Asia where many emerging infectious diseases originate," UH said in a nearly 300-page proposed capital improvement budget request to lawmakers. "Hawaii’s vulnerability is further underscored by the fact that tourism could be severely reduced in the event of a local epidemic, particularly if the local response is inadequate. The (laboratory) is critical to the health and security of Hawaii, the nation and the world."

In recent years the world has seen threats posed by infectious diseases including the rapid spread of the West Nile virus across the United States, outbreaks of SARS in Asia and Canada, and the global spread of avian influenza through migratory birds.

"Hawaii is the most geographically isolated populated land mass on the planet, yet we are a global crossroads for travelers," said UH spokes­woman Lynne Waters."Our ability to detect, treat and prevent diseases at an early stage is essential to Hawaii’s health and well-being."

The facility would be classified as a Level 3 biosafety lab, meaning it is able to house disease agents that can potentially cause lethal infection and can be transmitted through the air.

Building of the lab was delayed for seven years in part because of funding problems. Most recently it was derailed when the state, during the Lingle administration, failed to release $15 million in matching funds required to obtain the $32.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health. Lingle released just $2.5 million in 2009 during a budget shortfall.

Before the project was suspended, UH spent about $700,000 between 2005 and 2009 on planning, including hiring an architect, as well as environmental and business plan consultants.

The federal funds were in jeopardy up until last month when NIH agreed to give the university an extension to secure the 2-acre site in Kalaeloa, according to UH project manager Keith Mattson.

The university said it now has the matching funds lined up after floating revenue bonds. Operations will be funded by future research grants.

The federal funds are contingent upon UH reaching milestones this year, including an environmental analysis to be completed by late fall and securing a lease with the Army for the land. If UH meets those, construction could begin in late 2013 with the lab opening in 2016.

"I am confident that we’re going to put every effort forward to make the deadlines, and we’re just forging ahead," Mattson said. "They (NIH officials) have been very patient with us in this respect. It’s a tribute to the interest they have and the need they foresee for this type of lab in Hawaii. The public health issues are so profound when you think of the way infectious diseases can spread. People can fly literally from any point on the globe to your community. You need a lab like this to respond."

Kalaeloa is an ideal location since the laboratory can be co-located with the Hawaii National Guard’s civil support team that can assist state emergency responders in the event of a biological emergency, he added. The facility will enhance UH’s smaller Level 3 biosafety laboratory at the Kakaako medical school.

"Existing Biosafety Level 3 space is insufficient to support further growth in this research area and would limit the university’s ability to partner with the federal Centers for Disease Control, which is setting up a field office in Hawaii," UH said in the document.

The most significant change is that the lab, originally planned to be physically attached to the Kakaako medical school, will now have to be reconfigured.

"We’re going to look at different operational models as we go forward," Mattson said. "Rather than having staff at the medical school working at both the existing medical school building and (biosafety lab), we’re going to have to have other staff assigned to (the biosafety lab) itself."

The facility is envisioned as a source of economic diversity driving the growth of the life sciences industry, which could "become the third economic pillar for Hawaii’s economy," according to the UH’s website.

UH plans to solicit public feedback for the planned 31,000-square-foot laboratory that will house small amounts of infectious disease agents.