High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The concept of biocontainment, also called laboratory biosafety, pertains to microbiology laboratories in which the physical containment of highly pathogenic organisms (bacteria) or agents (viruses) is required, usually by isolation in environmentally and biologically secure cabinets or rooms, to prevent accidental infection of workers or release into the surrounding community during scientific research. The term "biocontainment" was coined in 1985, but the concept stretches back at least to the 1940s.