The goal of the CVM Vet-LIRN Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Program is to complement, develop, and use a network of university, state and federal veterinary diagnostic laboratories in order to increase national laboratory capacity to detect, respond to and recover from a catastrophic animal food/feed contamination event. Funding under this program will allow provision for improve of diagnostic infrastructure, method development, training in standardized testing to extend analysis capability and surveillance of outbreak samples. The goal of this proposal is to seek funding for Animal Disease Research Laboratory(ADRDL), South Dakota to participate and provide diagnostic testing support for Vet-LIRN. ADRDL is one of the nationally preeminent full service, animal disease research and diagnostic laboratories that provides the fastest, most accurate, and most dependable animal disease diagnostic services possible. ADRDL is a not-for-profit lab and provides state-of-the-art diagnostic services and instrumentation for the detection of zoonotic and animal diseases and conducts over 500, 000 diagnostic tests every year. The ADRDL is one of fewer than 40 veterinary diagnostic laboratories accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). In addition, the lab is an integral member, of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN).
The pet and animal industry is a major contributor of the United States economy. However, many outbreaks of food borne and zoonotic pathogens originate from pets and agriculturally important animals. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories detect and report diseases from pets and animals and ensure that zoonotic diseases do not cause outbreaks in humans. In the proposed cooperative agreement, Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (ADRDL), South Dakota seeks to participate in critical disease testing and surveillance projects initiated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Office of Research Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN).