This thesis outlines the classification of biological agents, the regulatory framework for working safely and the security implications of handling high consequence pathogens followed by a detailing of my significant contributions to this field. My work covers a broad range of pathogens and research questions, yet shares a common theme of developing novel approaches to working in containment: examining the use of bacteriophage as a mechanism for the capture and detection of Escherichia coli serotyope O157; characterisation of the anthrax vaccine and its production processes, to inform the understanding and development of current and next generation vaccines; an analysis of environmental anthrax spore levels and their decontamination, contributing to responses in the event of a bioterrorism event; improvements to established but unreliable inactivation methods, thereby allowing viral haemorrhagic fever samples to be taken out of containment whilst maintaining the integrity of molecular material; and innovative approaches to working safely and humanely with a primate model of monkeypox virus has been instrumental in the approval of a new vaccine for smallpox. This work catalogues my advancement through the containment levels at Public Health England, which has culminated in my current senior management role as the Head of High Containment Microbiology, with responsibility for the ACDP Containment Level 4 in-vitro facilities at Porton and Colindale.