Source: UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA submitted to NRP
NAHLN LEVEL 1 COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FY2023
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031142
Grant No.
2023-37624-40729
Cumulative Award Amt.
$250,000.00
Proposal No.
2023-05349
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2023
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2024
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[AA-G]- Homeland Security
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
(N/A)
LINCOLN,NE 68583
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The major goal of this work is to support the laboratory infrastructure of the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center (NVDC) to be able to perform testing for diseases of high consequence to US livestock and poultry, an important component of this is to support testing capacity in the case of an outbreak of such a disease through participation in the USDA National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Such testing is critical to ensure the freedom of animals from disease, rapid identification of potentially infected animals, or in the advent of an outbreak, allow for safe and rapid animal movement out of infected areas and rapidly stop disease transmission. The goal of this work is to support the ability to provide testing services to federal and state stakeholders to help support the safety of livestock, poultry, and the food supply. The objectives of this proposal specific to NVDC include:1. To provide diagnostic testingcapabilities and capacities of a national veterinary diagnostic laboratory network to support early detection, rapid response, and continuity of business in the face of high-consequence animal disease outbreaks. 2. To provide quality diagnostic testing results to the USDA National Animal Health Network, through the continued support of the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center's quality system and testing equipment 3. To participate in prepardness training and excercises so that laboratory staff and faculty to respond in the event of a foreign animal disease or NAHLN scope disease outbreak. The impacts of this work will lead to enhanced capacity for accurate and high qualitydiagnostic and surveillance testing, which by supporting disease migitation and rapid identication can enable rapid identification, mitigation, and elimination of disease outbreaks in livestock and poultry.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
3113910110175%
3113910110025%
Knowledge Area
311 - Animal Diseases;

Subject Of Investigation
3910 - Cross-commodity research--multiple animal species;

Field Of Science
1101 - Virology; 1100 - Bacteriology;
Goals / Objectives
1. To provide diagnostic testingcapabilities and capacities of a national veterinary diagnostic laboratory network to support early detection, rapid response, and continuity of business in the face of high-consequence animal disease outbreaks.2. To provide quality diagnostic testing results to the USDA National Animal Health Network, through the continued support of the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center's quality system3. To participate in prepardness training and excercises so that laboratory staff and faculty to respond in the event of a foreign animal disease or NAHLN scope disease outbreak.
Project Methods
The Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center (NVDC) is a fully AAVLD accredited level one USDA National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). As part of NAHLN membership the NVDC utilizes highly trained staff in conjunction with a quality controlled system to ensure methods and procedures are properly followed. As a NAHLN member lab, protocols and methods are distributed by NAHLN and integrated into the laboratory's quality system. Performance on these is evaluated through proficiency testing to ensure proper testing results. The NVDC will utilize NAHLN procedures where available, in addition to those that are developed and executed internally through the quality system. These include testing for a variety of high consequence and foreign animal diseases, in addition to those related to public heath, such as antimicrobial resistance surveillance.

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Federal and State Regulatory Partners (APHIS VS and Nebraska Department of Agriculture), Practicing Veterinarians/Clinicians, Livestock and Poultry Producers and Processors, Microbiologists, Animal Health Stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training and support were provided to laboratory staff and faculty through QMS training offered by NAHLN, attendance at NAHLN symposia and AAVLD annual meetings (NAHLN/AAVLD meeting at Cornell), bioinformatics training at NVSL, and numerous drills and tabletop excercises at the local and state level. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results are disseminated through the NAHLN program. Direct testing results are reported through electronic messaging systems and delivered to stakeholders through state animal health officials and program staff. The lab has engaged with numerous stakeholders including commodity groups, industry, producers, and university extension to deliver information in regards to HPAI testing in dairy cattle. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center (NVDC) is a Level 1 laboratory within the USDA-APHIS National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). The NAHLN provides a framework for the coordination of federal and state animal disease diagnostic laboratory infrastructure, capabilities, reporting and testing capacities. NAHLN laboratories provide response and testing in the form of disease laboratory services nationwide. The NVDC, under this program, has worked to support the NAHLN in numerous ways, including enhancing testing capabilities and capacity, participation in training and other preparatory exercises, performing proficiency testing, maintaining an effective quality system and providing staff the opportunities forprofessional advancement in support of NAHLN. The NVDC has been granted full accreditation by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) until 2027, providing a recognition of the quality system that is in place. Resources provided by the NAHLN are key to ensuring the continued success of the quality management and assurance programs. Funds used from this grant go towards salaries for our Quality Manager, towards proficiency trained technical staff, and to support the acquisition, maintenance and continued performance of our testing and support equipment. The quality manager is key staff member that is pivotal for maintenance of the NVDC quality management system and thus accreditation by the AAVLD. Trained and proficiency tested staff is an essential addition to our laboratory to maintain suffcient testing capacity, especially during an outbreak situation. This criticality of this prepardness was underscored by the entrance of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) into US domestic poultry flocks in 2022, followed by the emergence of HPAI in dairy cattle in 2024, which resulted in the continued activation of most NAHLN laboratories for HPAI testing. In Nebraska alone, there have been nearly 5 million birds depopulated because of HPAI and the laboratory has conducted more than 6,000 tests in support of the outbreak resposne, with more than 1,400 tests run during this current reporting period. Nebraska also participated in the dairy HPAI herd status program and has successfully been testing bulk tank milk for HPAI.Additionally, there were more than 180 ASF tests conducted in support of surveillance efforts during the reporting period as part of the ASF active surveillance project The laboratory continues to support the livestock industries with 24FMD tests conducted as part of foreign animal disease investigations, which are given high priority to allow animal or product movement. Continued participation in the NAHLN Antimicrobial Resistance Progam resulted in numerous WGS successfully generated and MIC tests/isolates submitted. These accomplishments highlight the broad impact of NAHLN programs to enhance animal health.

Publications