The financial resources provided to the iowa state university veterinary diagnostic laboratory (ISU VDL) as a core laboratory in the national animal health laboratory network (nahln) are essential…

The Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU VDL) received a $250,000 cooperative agreement award from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative (FADI) program. The award period is from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022.

Under the award, the ISU VDL will enhance its animal disease monitoring, testing, and preparedness capabilities as a core laboratory in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Funding will support maintaining the laboratory's biosafety level-3 capability as well as proficiency-trained diagnostic technicians. It will also enable continued improvements to laboratory information technology infrastructure for securely managing and transmitting sensitive data. The award reinforces the ISU VDL's quality assurance programs to validate accurate, reliable test results and reassure decision-makers and trading partners. Overall, the funding leverages existing ISU VDL capacities to strengthen the US diagnostic system and protect animal health, human health, and the $100B+ US animal agriculture industry.

The financial resources provided to the iowa state university veterinary diagnostic laboratory (ISU VDL) as a core laboratory in the national animal health laboratory network (nahln) are essential in enhancing animal disease monitoring capabilities and capacity, demonstrating competence and compliance of well-defined testing standards, supporting the development and implementation of quality assurance programs that drive the continuous improvement of the laboratory, increasing collaboration and connectivity between state and federal animal health officials and diagnostic laboratories, and improving foreign or emerging animal disease testing, surveillance, and containment capabilities. Nahln's support of the ISU VDL is essential in driving the continual improvement of the laboratory's ability to adequately serve and protect the health and well-being of US food-animal agriculture and the safety and abundance of our nation's food-supply. Federal support through the nahln is acornerstone of enhancing our laboratory, regional, and national preparedness to effectively monitor and respond to emerging diseases of importance to both animal and human health. These funds have enabled the ISU VDL the ability to maintain a BSL- 3 capable diagnostic laboratory space and proficiency-trained diagnostic technicians that must be prepared when a disease outbreak occurs and utilized on a regular basis for foreign, emerging, and domestic disease surveillance. These funds also support laboratory information technology infrastructure, capabilities, and personnel to develop and use data systems necessary for secure management and transmission of sensitive laboratory data. Similarly, support through the nahln has been critical towards enhancing the ISU VDL's quality assurance programs that validate the accuracy and reliability of the test results to reassure decision-makers and foreign trading partners that they can have confidence in the results. In short, funding received through the nahln is used as an extremely efficient and effective means of leveraging the capabilities existing at the ISU VDL to enhance the US diagnostic system serving to protect animal health, human health, and the greater than 100 billion dollar US animal agricultural economy.