Dear Biosafety Professionals and Members,

You are all fighting - in your families and institutions - the threat of SARS-CoV-2 for some time now. Many of you have seen the deadly nature of this virus and that protection of the vulnerable in our European community is best assured by compliance with public health guidance. The biosafety community, however, plays an even greater role as many of us are linked directly to hospitals and testing laboratories - assuring the safety of personnel, supplying badly needed materials and equipment and, most importantly, ‘know how’ to help intensive care units and testing laboratories remain operational. Especially in these times, but also in the preceding decades, the work of hundreds of our members, led by the many devoted women and men who have run, and continue to run, EBSA shows its importance - those who have trained, educated and united the biosafety community and the health professionals now at the frontline. A pandemic such as this is devastating, but the course of events would be much worse if you, our members, did not devote your time and energy to the battle. The institutional bodies of EBSA are, through this event, encouraged to work even harder in the future, conserving the legacy of past devoted members and preparing the membership for challenges ahead. I would like to heartfully thank you and wish all the best to you during the days and weeks ahead.

Your serving EBSA president
Thomas Binz