Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

March 2020 Update

This fall will mark a particularly exciting time for Iowa’s animal agriculture industry as we break ground for the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University. In recent years, the quality and breadth of service provided by the laboratory has been achieved despite an outdated facility that has outlived its usefulness. This new facility for the only full-service and fully accredited veterinary diagnostic lab in Iowa will greatly enhance the state’s diagnostic service and discovery capabilities and support animal health, food safety, public health and competitiveness of Iowa’s animal agricultural industries for current and future generations of Iowans.

Proposed site of Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in relation to the College of Veterinary Medicine and existing Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

What is the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory?

Processing more than 90,000 submissions a year – and more than a million tests in total – the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory plays a key role in advancing Iowa’s $32 billion animal agricultural industry and ensuring the world’s food supply is plentiful and safe. Since animal diseases impacting trade are recognized as a major threat to the Iowa and U.S. animal agricultural economy, the laboratory and its role in providing unbiased third-party diagnoses in livestock and poultry is considered vital to the industry. The laboratory also diagnoses disease in wildlife, companion animals and performance animals.

Conceptual Rendering of the lobby.

Conceptual Rendering of new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, HWY 30 view, with the College of Veterinary Medicine in background.

Why is it important?

During the 2015 epidemic of the highly pathogenic avian influence (HPAI) in the Midwest, the nation looked to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to help diagnose the affected flocks and contain the crisis. And when porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) reached the U.S. in 2013, the laboratory was first to identify the outbreak, pinpoint where it originated, and develop same-day testing for the disease; since then, Iowa State faculty in the lab have received funding for and led several projects to develop control and prevention strategies for HPAI and PEDv. Now the lab is intensely focused on preparedness in response to the potential introduction of African Swine Fever. These are just three recent examples of how the laboratory has been a leader in protecting animal and human health since it was established in 1947.

The new facility will offer adequate space for approximately 25 faculty and more than 130 technical staff who work in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where its caseload has more than doubled over the past seven years alone. The facility will ensure outstanding service and technology for veterinarians and for livestock and poultry producers, and provide diagnosticians with the very best resources to ensure diseases and toxicoses are detected quickly and kept from spreading to neighboring herds.  

The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory also contributes to the university's research and teaching mission – research in discovering new pathogens and developing new diagnostic assays, and teaching in helping to train the next generation of veterinarians and scientists in diagnostic medicine.

Conceptual Rendering of the Pathology Viewing Mezzanine.

View of Laboratory from the Hallway.

Project Timeline

Request for design proposal process:
Spring 2020

Breaking ground for site development:
Fall 2020

Anticipated completion:
2023

Contact

For more information regarding the facility or to learn about the naming opportunities available, contact Trent Wellman, director of development for the College of Veterinary Medicine, at twellman@foundation.iastate.edu or 515.294.4675.

Project Cost and Funding

The Iowa Legislature has approved a total of $63.5 million toward the project, with the remaining $11.5 million to be funded by the university and private support.

You can make a gift here.