BROOKINGS – The Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory does a lot of tests, but the facility at South Dakota State University is behind other states and needs to catch up, said SDSU President Barry Dunn to the Brookings City Council.

“The lab does an enormous number of diagnostic tests that are very, very important, but the word that comes before that is research. The two go hand-in-hand,” Dunn said Tuesday.

“Our state’s economy runs on agriculture,” he added, and this area of the country is important to food production.

The ADRDL employs 60 people, most with bachelor’s or master’s degrees, which brings high-quality jobs to Brookings, Dunn said.

The lab does a lot of testing for diseases, not only for livestock but companion animals, too.

Since South Dakota has more livestock than people, keeping the animals healthy is a top priority, but because some diseases like rabies and E. coli can be transferred, the work it does is important to human health, too.

The ADRDL doesn’t just run tests. It has developed vaccines and developed the tests themselves.

Among the capabilities are:

• Valuable animal disease research for the $7.3 billion state livestock industry;

• Diagnostic services for livestock producers through their veterinarians;

• Public health services, such as rabies testing;

• Food safety testing, such as testing meat samples to ensure safety;

• Wildlife health;

• Emergency disease response to the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in 2013-14, Avian influenza in 2015, and foot and mouth disease and other foreign and emerging diseases.

The laboratory was started in 1967 and the mission has expanded over time, Dunn noted. The staff used to do post-mortem tests to find out what caused the death; now they do ante-mortem to find out how to prevent the disease.

“It’s important to be ahead of the disease,” he said.

The ADRDL does about 500,000 tests a year; the record was 600,000 tests in one year.

“Very, very busy place; one of the busiest labs in the U.S.,” Dunn said.

Staff can run more than 100 different tests for different diseases, he added.

All 50 states have at least one lab that does this kind of work, usually associated with a university, Dunn said.

“Every state around us had built a similar lab; they have a new facility or are doing them now,” Dunn said.

Dunn said people ask why neighboring labs can’t run South Dakota tests. The other states focus on their state’s samples to protect their industries, which can be specific to their areas, he explained.

It’s also a question of capacity, especially during a disease outbreak such as Avian flu when there are lots of samples to test, he said.

The faster samples can be tested, the faster officials can control an outbreak, added Dr. Jane Hennings, director of Animal Disease Research at SDSU.

The construction is planned as a two-phase project. Phase 1 is a $58 million project for a new lab on the north side. Phase 2 is a remodel of the old parts built in 1967 and 1993 to modernize research abilities.

It will be the most sophisticated laboratory in South Dakota, Dunn said.

“It can respond to the most virulent types of diseases to protect us all, including those of us in Brookings,” he said.

The project is already in Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s budget. Of the cost, $6 million was raised by the lab itself, and the rest of the money would be paid off by bond over a 25-year period, Dunn said.

The SDSU lab has attracted good, knowledgeable people, Hennings said.

“The thing that’s holding us back is the facility,” she said.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.