Penn State broke ground on a $65 million expansion of its Animal Diagnostic Lab on Monday, a project Pennsylvania's secretary of agriculture said will help the state continue to protect farming and public health.
“We're an animal agriculture state, right? So a lot of poultry, a lot of beef cattle, a lot of dairy, a lot of goats and sheep. So anything that sort of disrupts that, kingdom, if you will, is problematic," said Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding.
The lab, Redding said, is critical for farmers, veterinarians, the food supply and public health.
The facility at University Park is one of four in the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Lab System. That system diagnoses and helps the state respond to everything from rabies to bird flu. The Keystone Animal Diagnostic Center at Penn State Beaver opened earlier this year.
Troy Ott, dean of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, said the diagnostic labs are “one of agriculture’s most important lines of defense.” The expansion, he said, will give scientists modern facilities with new labs and infrastructure.
“We have seen repeatedly, whether confronting highly pathogenic avian influenza or monitoring other emerging animal diseases, that a strong diagnostic system is essential to protecting individual farms and the entire agricultural industry here in Pennsylvania," Ott said.
Ernest Hovingh, director of the Animal Diagnostic Lab, said they can respond to diseases that are present, but also ones that aren’t — yet.
“If there's a completely new emerging disease, then we have the platforms to be able to test for those types of diseases," Hovingh said.
He said the new facility will be larger and state-of-the-art. The state is covering about $63 million of the cost for the facility that will be built next to Penn State’s current lab. It’s scheduled to be finished by the end of 2028.
