The National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), a vital component of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), is at the forefront of protecting public health and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. Its main facility, the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health (CSCHAH) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is Canada's only Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, allowing scientists to safely research highly dangerous pathogens such as Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fever.
Opened in June 1999, the CSCHAH was established in the 1980s to meet Canada's critical need for advanced high-containment laboratory space. Uniquely, it shares its premises with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, enabling a collaborative approach to both human and animal infectious diseases. Since 2018, the NML has expanded its capabilities to include genomics and advanced computing for studying microbes at a genetic level. The laboratory also drew significant attention in January 2021 when it fired researchers Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng following a controversial trans-Pacific shipment of BSL-4 grade virus materials.