IMPORTANT TERMS

Animal Rights - A philosophical view that considers animals as morally equivalent to humans and rejects the use of animals for any reason: for clothing, food, entertainment, sport, companionship, transportation, rescue work, or biomedical research.

Animal Welfare - The responsibility we have to treat animals with compassion and to provide them with ethical care.

Bacteriology - The study of bacteria.

Biodefense - Defensive strategies and technologies to protect against attacks with biological agents.  Involves development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics to diagnose, prevent, and treat infections as well as technologies to detect potential bioweapons.

Biohazard - Biological hazard--any biological substance that poses a threat to health of humans or animals. 

Biological agent - An organism or compound produced by a living organism that has biological effects on other organisms.

Biosafety - Biological safety – safety from infectious agents or toxins.  Generally refers to standards and procedures in research laboratories articulated in “Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories” published by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.

Biosecurity - Biological security – protocols and procedures to secure biological agents.

Biotechnology - Any technology that utilizes biological systems or living organisms to make or modify products for specific purposes. 

Bioterrorism - The use or threatened use of biological agents for the purpose of inciting terror in a population. 

Biotoxin - A type of biological agent.  A poison-- often used to refer to compounds produced by plants, bacteria and some animals that are highly toxic for other organisms.

Biowarfare - The use of biological agents in warfare.

Bioweapon - Biological agents processed to be useful as weapons on the battlefield.  Requires significant processing of the biological agent beyond simply growing the organism or producing the biotoxin.

Experimental Design - An experimental design describes how an experiment is performed to address a particular question. The design will encompass a variety of standardized experimental methods in unique and creative ways to address previously unanswered questions.

Experimental Methods - Experimental methods are proven techniques used as tools to address a particular research question. These techniques are standardized and are reproducible by different laboratories.

Regenerative Medicine - An approach to treat, cure, or prevent disease by altering or repairing defective genes.

Immunology - The study of the immune system and the mechanisms it uses to protect the body from abnormal or foreign substances, or organisms.

Infectious Disease - A disease that can be transmitted from person to person or from organism to organism and is caused by a microbial agent or prion.

Microbiology - The study of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses etc. and their effects on other living organisms.

Parasite - An organism that lives in or on the living tissue of a host organism at the expense of that host.

Parasitology - The study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationships between them.

Pathology - The study of disease, its causes, processes, development, and consequences.

Virology - The study of viruses.