Penn State Breaks Ground for Major Expansion of Animal Diagnostic Lab

Penn State and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on Monday celebrated the groundbreaking for a $65 million expansion to the university’s Animal Diagnostic Laboratory.

The 47,000-square-foot, two-story addition to the lab on Pastureview Road is expected to speed up animal disease diagnoses and strengthen biosecurity, and in turn protect and support Pennsylvania farmers.

“Supporting cutting-edge research, diagnostic testing, and agricultural education at our land-grant universities like Penn State is critical to our nation’s economy, food security and public safety,” Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said in a statement. “It is one of America’s most important and enduring public policies.”

Penn State’s lab is one of four in the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS), a state-funded partnership to support and speed animal health and disease detection and prevention statewide.

The expansion of the lab at University Park, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in September, is funded almost entirely by the commonwealth.

Upon completion in November 2028, the expanded lab will be nearly double the size of the current, 25,800-square-foot lab constructed in 1956 and and expanded in 1999. It will add 16,000-square feet of lab space to the facility’s existing 10,000 square feet.

It will include a new necropsy laboratory and a Biosafety Level 3 lab, which meets requirements for enhanced safety protocols and design that enable testing associated with infectious diseases such as avian influenza and African swine fever.

“The Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System is a critical resource for Pennsylvania agriculture and for protecting the health of animals, people and the environment,” Troy Ott, dean of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, said. “This project represents a long-term investment in the infrastructure needed to support our ADL’s broad diagnostic mission and its role in advancing a One Health approach.”

Wiley Lab, which Penn State officials previously said is in need of significant renovations, and multiple trailers on the site will be removed. The project will eliminate $3.5 million in deferred maintenance.

Pastureview Road and Wiley Lane will also be realigned to accommodate the addition and allow easier access for larger vehicles.

Monday’s event came after groundbreaking last week for a $94 million new lab at University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and the opening of the Keystone Animal Diagnostic Center on Penn State’s Beaver Campus as the fourth and newest PADLS facility the May. The state’s other diagnostic lab is the Department of Agriculture’s Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory in Harrisburg.