The Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory (MPTL) in Willmar, Minn., recently completed an extensive building expansion project aimed at providing additional diagnostic testing labs and enhanced equipment and office spaces. The MPTL, which serves veterinarians, farmers and poultry producers, is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. The new construction expanded the 20-year-old space from a 3,665 square-foot building to an 11,890 square-foot one. “This laboratory expansion will further enhance Minnesota’s ability to diagnose and respond to diseases impacting poultry,” said Governor Mark Dayton. “This facility is an important investment in our state’s $90 billion agricultural industry and the 340,000 people it employs. I thank the producers, industry officials and legislators from around Minnesota for their leadership in securing state funding for it.” The 2015 Minnesota Legislature provided an appropriation of $8.5 million, which fully funded the project. Specific enhancements include: The new addition is on one floor and consists of laboratories, offices, conference rooms and break room space. The existing building has been re-purposed for additional laboratory space. The new facility incorporates a sample delivery room; necropsy lab; media prep lab; bacteriology and serology lab; sample process and extraction lab; PCR testing lab; master mix lab; and autoclave room. The lab spaces have new equipment such as chemical fume hoods; biosafety cabinets; PCR machines; centrifuges; sample vortex machines; -80 degree and -20 degree freezers; and refrigerators. “Poultry production in Minnesota has become more dynamic and the health control programs require sophisticated diagnostic services,” said CVM Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Director, Jerry Torrison, DVM, Ph.D. “Together with the Board of Animal Health, we now have more space, technology and people to provide these critical services in the heart of Minnesota’s vital poultry industry.”
