The nation's newest biodefense lab stands like a fortress over Galveston, which is still in disarray after Hurricane Ike. The Galveston National Laboratory is the only building at the University of Texas Medical Branch with no Hurricane Ike damage. The structure has 700 concrete pilings that are anchored 120 feet into the earth, the National Lab sustained no wind or water damage. While other labs on the island were forced to shutdown during the storm, the National Lab had two backup generators and enough dry ice to sustain their specimens. The local hospital is still operating with a skeleton crew and a few dozen beds -- but the largest maximum-security lab on the campus is running experiments on the world's deadliest pathogens, from anthrax and Ebola to bubonic plague. The lab deputy director, Dr. James LeDuc, a tropical and infectious disease expert for the U.S. Army and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the lab was a safe harbor in a sea of destruction.

The $174 million facility was designed to withstand more than the strongest hurricane. The building has 150 security cameras that digitally record every door, room and person in the facility and capture clear images of license plates from far away. Every door in the lab is secured with key cards, key pads or a fingerprinting device - and some with all three.

In the most restricted labs, researchers wear spacesuits and have strict exit and entry rules; it can take up to half an hour - including an 8-minute decontamination shower - to get out. Reinforced concrete walls are 10 inches thick. And heat, filtering and chemical systems purify the air and all liquid and solid waste.

Just in case the marvels of modern technology aren't enough, the lab plans an annual lull in research activity between August and September, Dr. LeDuc said - the high storm season.

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