Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute

Overview

The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute is a Russian pathogen-research institution founded in 1934 and represented here through uncertainty surrounding the death of researcher Daria Shepolova.

Current Profile

The institute studies plague and other pathogens. Its public significance in the episode comes not from a confirmed outbreak or weapons role but from the mismatch between sparse official information and reported precautionary measures after Shepolova’s death.

The episode states that there is no current evidence tying the institute to Russia’s military biological-weapons program, while noting suggestions of a Cold War connection. Russia’s broader history of secret biological-weapons work makes transparency especially important, but institutional history cannot substitute for evidence about this case.

Key Characteristics

• Specialized Russian institute researching plague and other pathogens.
• Founded in 1934.
• Workplace of researcher Daria Shepolova before her unexplained death.
• Subject to heightened scrutiny because official disclosure did not fully explain reported precautions.
• Not currently shown by the supplied source to be part of a military biological-weapons program.

Evidence

• Institutional remit - Saving your bacon: healthy-eating policy evolves describes its founding date and pathogen research.
• Death and response - Saving your bacon: healthy-eating policy evolves links the institute to Shepolova’s plague work and reported quarantine measures.
• Weapons boundary - Saving your bacon: healthy-eating policy evolves explicitly says no current evidence connects the institute to the military program while preserving Cold War uncertainty.

Qualifications

The current profile is based on one episode summary rather than institute records, medical evidence, inspection findings, or independent outbreak reporting. Precautionary measures do not establish exposure, and Russia’s historical concealment does not prove a current offensive role for this institute.

What Changed

• Created an institutional profile bounded between confirmed pathogen research and unproved weapons or outbreak claims.

Relationships

• Daria Shepolova - researcher whose death prompted scrutiny of the institute.
• High-Consequence Biological Research Transparency - disclosure and trust standard relevant to its work.
• Russia - national governance and historical biosecurity context.
• Saving your bacon: healthy-eating policy evolves - sole current source for this profile.