About Us

The Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories plays a major role in a statewide, national, and global animal and zoonotic disease surveillance system that seeks to protect the health of livestock, companion animals, and the general public.

As part of state and federal surveillance programs, the laboratory is a member of the Laboratory Response Network Partners in Preparedness, and works in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Centers for Disease Control.

The laboratory assists the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the Colorado Department of Agriculture with surveillance for a number of high-profile agents, including coronavirus, avian influenza virus, chronic wasting disease, and mad cow disease.

The CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories is accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

women processing samples under fume hood

Facilities

The Colorado State University Diagnostic Medicine Center is home to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories, with 90,000 square feet of space dedicated to diagnostic services, clinical pathology, and disease surveillance. The facility includes sealed Biosafety Level 3 laboratories approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for handling highly infectious select agents.

News

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The Fence Post: Highly pathogenic avian influenza confirmed in a Wyoming backyard flock

The Wyoming Livestock Board and U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a Park County backyard poultry flock. Samples from the flock were tested at the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories in Fort Collins and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa.

Denver Westword: When COVID Jumped the Fence at the Denver Zoo, Researchers Seized the Opportunity

The study’s authors include scientists from Colorado State University, the CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories and the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance. One of those authors is Sue VandeWoude, a CSU veterinarian and virologist who has spent years studying how viruses move across species.

CSU veterinarians monitoring for EHV-1: What horse owners need to know

Understand the risks of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), what to look for, and what to do if your horse is demonstrating symptoms.

A discovery from the heart: Parasitic worms uncovered in native Colorado fish

MIP Associate Professor Paula Schaffer, in a cross-campus collaboration with Dana Winkelman in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, discovered a parasitic worm in the hearts of two native Colorado fish.

From bench to bioinformatics: Networking the next generation in genetic sequencing

Veterinary diagnosticians are advancing infectious disease response through hands-on training in next-generation sequencing, thanks to NAHLN symposia focused on technology and collaboration.

Mason and Zersen receive prestigious Maxine Benjamin Award

Drs. Gary Mason and Kristin Zersen have been named recipients of CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Dr. Maxine Benjamin Memorial Award for Veterinary Faculty Excellence.