Construction of a $3.1 million addition to the Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory at Iowa State to increase bio-safety is set to be completed in February 2004.

“Our faculty here are among the top in the nation, but our facilities are some of the poorest,” said Norman Cheville, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Cheville said this in one of the first steps in a $47 million modernization and renovation plan aimed to improve the quality of safety, instruction and research at the Veterinary Diagnostics lab and teaching hospital. This first step is being funded by state of Iowa appropriations.

“This is a conceptual long-term plan,” Cheville added.

Cheville said the goal of the new addition is to eventually make the current diagnostic lab qualify to be a bio-secure level three facility. Currently, the lab is at bio-secure level two on a four-level scale.

The increased security level will allow the facility to better contain and control harmful and contagious agents and diseases such as Anthrax, West Nile and the plague, said Gary Osweiler, director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

Osweiler said many different aspects of containment need to be addressed at the facility.

The sheltered loading area will reduce contamination that may be brought in by animals and trailers, he said. This area is used to control dust and also decontaminate the transportation used to bring the contaminated animals to the lab.

In addition, negative ventilation systems are being improved, Osweiler added. These systems keep the potentially contaminated air within the lab from being released into the outer environment.

Cheville said he hopes the additional $7 million needed to meet the level three requirements will be obtained within the next couple of years.

“We are very excited about it,” Cheville said.

Osweiler said a major function of the lab is to provide diagnostic lab tests.

These tests may be for many different purposes, such as for veterinarians that do not have the facilities to diagnose certain problems and to fulfill requests made by the Iowa Department of Agriculture, Osweiler said.

Every state in the United States has a veterinary diagnostic lab, responsible for assisting in the diagnosis of diseases in animals.

“Our current [lab design] is over 30 years old,” Osweiler said.

Cheville said the current construction is being built with the future in mind through the addition of features that will allow this facility to be easily upgraded.

Osweiler added it is important for these facilities to be up to date because there are many deadly diseases that affect animals today.

Approximately 100 people currently work in the lab, including graduate research students, Osweiler said. The diagnostic lab works closely with the State of Iowa Veterinarian and State Department of Agriculture, he said.

The new addition, which began construction in November of 2002, has been in the works for the last few years.