University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus will soon be home to a newly renovated state-of-the-art diagnostics center. Construction began recently with a formal groundbreaking on April 29th, which was attended by UNL and state officials. The $44.7 million facility — paid for by $4.1 million in private funds and the remaining $40.6 million to be appropriated over 10 years in financial bounds – is projected to open by the end of 2017. The new facility will allow UNL to better serve students in the program, as well as veterinarians, producers and public health officials that use its services.
Once open, it will replace the aging building between the Ken Morrison Life Sciences Research Center and the Veterinary Basic Science building in the northwest part of East Campus. As the only accredited veterinary diagnostic lab in the state of Nebraska, UNL’s Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center is responsible for developing new testing techniques for animal diseases as well as biomedical research and training. The Veterinary Diagnostic Center, which also serves as a teaching space for UNL students, is a national center of excellence for testing of certain diseases in livestock. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission also utilizes the lab to monitor and prevent the spread of wildlife diseases.