About

The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory building is shown Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University in Pullman. (College of Veterinary Medicine/Ted S. Warren)

The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) supports Washington’s testing for early disease detection, protecting public health, food security, and the state’s $1.5 billion animal agriculture industry. Our main lab is housed in a three-story, 61,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on the Washington State University campus.  The Avian Health Laboratory is a branch lab at the Western Washington Regional Extension Center in Puyallup.

We provide state-of-the-art diagnostic services, consultation, disease surveillance, and outreach to safeguard animal health, the food supply, and public health.  The lab is fully accredited by American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

A Level 1 laboratory and founding member of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, WADDL and the other labs are responsible for the surveillance of and response to exotic disease outbreaks affecting livestock, including foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever, exotic Newcastle disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza and others.  We are also a member of the FDA Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (FDA Vet-LIRN).


Mission

WADDL’s mission is to provide accurate, state-of-the-art, timely, and cost-effective diagnostic services, consultation, disease surveillance and outreach in order to safeguard animal health, the food supply and public health and to contribute to Washington State University and the College of Veterinary Medicine through discovery, scholarly activity, and education.


Our commitment to education

Our faculty provides instruction in the professional veterinary medical and graduate degree programs in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. Veterinary students gain valuable experience in animal disease diagnostics, disease investigation, and public health during elective rotations in the diagnostic laboratory.  We also offer post-DVM education and training for teaching, research, and to prepare for board certification in veterinary pathology and microbiology through our Combined Anatomic Pathology Residency and Combined Clinical Microbiology Residency programs with the WSU Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology department.

WADDL also offers opportunities through the Pacific Northwest Salmonid Veterinary Externship Program, which exposes students interested in aquacultural medicine to a variety of salmon and trout hatcheries, natural resource agencies, aquatic health professionals, and fish diagnostic laboratories within the Pacific Northwest.


History

  • waddl lobbyThe Washington Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory move into a new research and surveillance facility adjacent to the Paul G. Allen Center for Global Health. Construction of the $61.3M, 62,000 square-foot building was completed in spring 2021.

  • WADDL began a collaboration with the Washington Department of Health in surveying animal populations for zoonotic agents such as plague and tularemia that may be endemically present in the state

  • WADDL is a founding member of National Animal Health Laboratory Network, a group laboratories in 42 states providing a framework for the coordination of federal and state animal disease diagnostic laboratory infrastructure, capabilities, and capacities.


  • WADDL became the first laboratory in the western United States to achieve accredited full-service laboratory status with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

  • The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) is officially created with new funds from the Legislature and existing resources. Today, it is a fully accredited facility and one of only a handful integrated with veterinary schools nationwide.