UC Davis' proposal to build a national biocontainment laboratory on campus has advanced to the final round of review by the National Institutes of Health, university officials announced Monday.

NIH notified the campus that its application for a proposed $190 million high-security infectious diseases laboratory has been selected as a finalist for federal funding based on the scientific merits of the proposal.

The agency did not take community opposition that developed in Davis into account in this phase of the application process.

The announcement makes UC Davis one of at least four institutions in the nation to remain in the running for federal funds for the so-called "hot labs." Institutions in New York, Chicago and Texas also advanced to the final stages of review, officials at those institutions confirmed Monday.

NIH officials will visit UC Davis on July 17 to interview administrators and faculty members about the proposed lab, dubbed the Western National Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases. The NIH will announce in September the institutions that will receive federal funds for a lab. One or two labs ultimately will be funded by the NIH.

UC Davis officials praised the announcement Monday, saying it validates their belief that the university offers extraordinary expertise to operate a lab to study some of the world's most threatening infectious diseases.

"The group of West Coast scientists that are part of the consortium that would use this facility are in my view the best in the country," said Fred Murphy, a professor of veterinary medicine at UC Davis, who has been tapped to run the proposed lab.

Murphy was the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

UC Davis Provost Virginia Hinshaw said in a prepared statement that the university welcomes the chance to bolster public health through research that would be done in the proposed facility.

"With growing threats from serious infectious diseases like West Nile virus and SARS, we are keenly aware of the urgency of making this proposed facility a reality," Hinshaw said.

Critics of the proposed UC Davis laboratory said the announcement puts opponents of the lab on notice that the facility will be built at UC Davis unless the NIH hears loud and clear that many local residents do not want the lab near their town.

"I hope the NIH will recognize that an undergraduate campus in a small family-oriented town like Davis is not an appropriate location for a national biocontainment laboratory that requires armed guards, security clearances, fences and background checks," said Davis City Councilwoman Sue Greenwald.

"I've talked to people who thought it couldn't happen here, but now people will be mobilized to write and call the NIH regarding their opposition to this biolab," said Samantha McCarthy of the citizens group Stop UCD Biolab Now.

Many opponents of the project say they fear security breaches or acts of terrorism could spread dangerous pathogens from the facility throughout the community. They also fear classified research on defenses against biochemical weapons will be conducted at the facility, a charge university officials deny.

Proponents of the project say the lab is needed to respond to disease outbreaks on the West Coast. Some proponents say they also intend to voice their position to the NIH. Susan Cummings, a UC Davis employee who founded a group called Want NBL On UCD Campus, said group members have collected about 200 signatures in support of the project. Those signatures will be sent on to the NIH, she said. Cummings said she was thrilled that the UC Davis proposal has advanced to the final stages of review.

The NIH considers community support and opposition for the labs when determining which projects will be funded. In early February, UC Davis submitted an 800-page application for the lab, which included design plans for the facility as well as details on the scientific partnerships the university would bring to such a lab. The application included numerous letters of support for the facility from county and city leaders throughout the region.

The letter included in the application from the Davis City Council was neutral on the proposal. In the letter, council members said they, and the public, needed more information before a position could be taken. A few weeks later, the council unanimously passed a letter opposing the lab, citing community opposition. That final letter was not included in the materials that were reviewed by the NIH in this initial stage of review.

Earlier this month, Stop UCD Bio Lab Now filed a lawsuit against the lab, claiming an adequate environmental review could not be done because alternative sites cannot be considered under the NIH criteria. The Davis City Council declined to join the lawsuit but will vote Wednesday on a proposed letter to the UC Regents that asks them to reconsider their approval of the lab application because the city believes the NIH process does not provide for adequate environmental review of the project.

Marj Dickinson, assistant vice chancellor for governmental affairs and community relations at UC Davis, said the issue of community response to the lab will be discussed during the NIH visit. Only key faculty, administrators and staff will meet with NIH officials during that visit.

The university has asked local city and county officials to forward any additional communications about the lab to them by July 1 and said it, in turn, will send those on to the NIH.

"I think it's very important that we assist the NIH in understanding community sentiment," said Davis Mayor Susie Boyd. "They need to determine how important it is."

Several UC Davis faculty members also have spoken out against the proposed biolab. Others have rallied in support.

The proposed lab would be built on campus near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 113. It would house several labs, in addition to the Bio Safety Level 4 lab where scientists wear full protective space suit-like gear when studying diseases such as Ebola or anthrax.

The institutions that have confirmed they are still in the running for federal funds are the University of Illinois at Chicago; the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston; and the New York Department of Public Health. Officials at those institutions say they have had no organized opposition to their lab proposals.

The University of Maryland did not advance to the final stages and Oregon Health and Sciences University had not yet received official word from the NIH by Monday, officials there said. Administrators from Boston University, which is also vying for the lab, could not be reached for comment. Officials at the NIH will not disclose how many institutions applied for funds for a BSL 4 lab.