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KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. -- Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and University of Pennsylvania Dean of Veterinary Medicine Andrew M. Hoffman celebrated another milestone for Pennsylvania's $132 billion agriculture industry recently, breaking ground on a new, $94 million laboratory at the New Bolton Center, the large-animal campus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
"Science continues to reveal critical connections between animal health, human health, and the health of our environment," Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. "Penn Vet has been at the center of discovery that deepens and reinforces those connections. Supporting Penn Vet's cutting-edge research, diagnostic testing, and quality animal care strengthens Pennsylvania's capacity to detect and prevent disease, respond quickly in crisis, and continue growing and leading in animal agriculture. This expansion is more proof that investments by the Shapiro Administration are feeding Pennsylvania's economic future and protecting Pennsylvania's rich agricultural heritage."
When completed, the $94 million, 63,000-square-foot Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, will bring together the New Bolton Center laboratory and the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology Research Laboratory, which serve agricultural producers, public health officials, public and private veterinarians, and horse racing officials statewide. VDL's current operations at the New Bolton Center are state-supported with more than $39 million invested in Governor Josh Shapiro's 2026-27 budget.
Both laboratories have outgrown their current homes. The laboratory at New Bolton Center, which performed more than 279,000 diagnostic tests last year, operates in laboratory spaces spread across several buildings on the center’s upper and lower campuses, with no room to innovate, grow, or consolidate. PETRL typically tests 30,000 samples a year from six Pennsylvania racetracks and leads research in drug testing, working from leased space at West Chester University and research space at New Bolton Center. The new lab will provide analytical and research laboratories designed for each program’s current work, with space to expand.
“For years, our diagnostic and toxicology teams have delivered results that people across Pennsylvania rely on,” said Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine at Penn Vet. “The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will put them side by side in modern facilities, where collaboration is part of the daily workflow. The Commonwealth’s investment gives the science that protects Pennsylvania’s animals, agriculture, and public health a home equal to its importance.”
The new Penn Vet lab will increase research and testing capacity under the umbrella of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System), which expanded earlier this year for the first time since the state established the system in 1991, adding a fourth lab in Western Pennsylvania. The four-lab system -- comprised of the New Bolton Center, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory in Harrisburg, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences' Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in University Park, and the new Keystone Animal Diagnostic Center at PSU's Beaver Campus -- is a state-funded partnership to support and speed animal health and disease detection and prevention statewide.
All four labs are members of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. PADLS holds the highest level of accreditation for animal health labs from the American Association of Veterinary Diagnosticians. The laboratory services the system provides are essential to ensuring animal health, the safety of the food supply, and protecting Pennsylvania's domestic and international trade.
During the last state fiscal year, July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026, PADLS labs tested 669,788 animal specimens, performing critical tests for monitoring diseases like avian influenza, rabies, chronic wasting disease, equine herpesvirus, and others.
Penn Vet's new lab will also join the new DAT-AI-LAB at the New Bolton Center. The first-of-its-kind laboratory dedicated to monitoring animal behavior using artificial intelligence opened earlier this year with $31,000 in grant support from the nation's first Agricultural Innovation Grant Program, and a $90,000 grant from Pennsylvania's Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence.