Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?i. Laboratory Director participated in the ASF table top exercise at FADDL from 07/29/2019 to 08/01/2019. ii. A Research Scientist (Microbiology) attended the Northeast USAHA/AAVLD meeting in Annapolis, MD, April 2019 iii. Laboratory Director attended the Northeast USAHA/AAVLD meeting in Annapolis, MD, May 2019 iv. Laboratory Director attended the annual USAHA/AAVLD meeting in Kansas City, MO, October 2018 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1) Personnel Support: Overall, the laboratory must maintain qualified staff and be positioned to continue to hire qualified professionals to provide for ongoing reliable laboratory results, that support surveillance efforts and help identify disease outbreaks. The NAHLN funding will be used to support the personnel (salary and fringe benefits) contributing to necropsy, receiving of specimens, rapid testing, administering LIMS, and maintaining the QMS in compliance with ISO 17025 Standard. 2) Training and Continuing Education: Regular training is required to support the continued excellence in foreign and emerging animal disease diagnostics. Exposure to latest scientific developments, new technologies, and attendance at relevant national meetings must be provided to permit continued excellence and improvement of the quality system and technical competency. The staff will be provided opportunities for continuing professional education. The NAHLN funding will be used to train the staff on foreign and emerging animal diseases diagnostics and QMS. 3) Proficiency Testing and Foreign Animal Disease Investigations: The AHDL will be participating in the NAHLN proficiency testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. The AHDL will work with the NJ State Veterinarian and APHIS Assistant District Director to investigate suspect cases of foreign animal diseases. The NAHLN funding will be used to procure laboratory supplies in support of proficiency testing and foreign animal disease investigations. 4) Equipment Maintenance and Calibration: The AHDL will use funding to maintain and calibrate equipment utilized in the NAHLN/USDA-APHIS funded testing. Equipment maintenance and calibration is essential to achieve accuracy and is required per ISO 17025:2017 standard.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Strengthened Laboratory Necropsy Investigations and Sample Receiving: The New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (AHDL) is a level 2 laboratory of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) and performed surveillance testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. The testing included avian Influenza surveillance of live bird markets, auctions, and backyard flocks in NJ. The laboratory participated in foreign animal disease investigations in collaboration with the New Jersey State Veterinarian and USDA-APHIS-VS Area Veterinarian In Charge. Funds were used to support necropsy investigations, quality assurance compliance, sample receipt, and sample accessioning. Successfully Participated in Proficiency Testing for Foreign and Emerging Animal Diseases: The AHDL successful participated in the following proficiency tests offered by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory. Successful completion of proficiency tests is an important step in emergency preparedness and surveillance for foreign and emerging animal diseases. African Swine Fever (ASF) Avian Influenza (AI) Swine Influenza (SIV) New Castle Disease (ND) Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Classical Swine Fever (CSF) Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) Successfully Participated in Emergency Preparedness Exercise: The AHDL participated in an emergency response tabletop exercise offered by the NAHLN program office in Aug 2018 along with other NAHLN laboratories from across the nation. This exercise was designed to test NAHLN laboratory response to the introduction of virulent Newcastle Disease (vND). The exercise covered the first three days of a vND outbreak investigation, and focused on biosafety practices, laboratory capacity when enhanced biosafety conditions are enacted, as well as communications and outbreak response policies. The exercise helped laboratory identify resource gaps for outbreak response at the biosafety/biosecurity, technical, and laboratory policy levels. Laboratory Director participated in the ASF table top exercise at FADDL from 07/29/2019 to 08/01/2019. The exercise was ICS 300 level training. Strengthened Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS): The AHDL successfully completed a NAHLN messaging competency exercise for Influenza-A Virus-Avian in June 2019. The competency demonstrated the AHDL's ability to send Avian Influenza results to the NAHLN Laboratory Messaging Services (LMS). Improved Laboratory's Quality Assurance Compliance: The laboratory was admitted as a NAHLN member laboratory for another year after successful submission of the NAHLN checklist and quality assurance documents. This approval lasts until April 2020. The laboratory obtained ISO 17025 accreditation in July 2017 and re-accreditation in June 2019 for all the NAHLN tests.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The funding was used to keep abreast of quality assurance and foreign and emerging animal disease updates. The following training/workshops were attended by the AHDL staff utilizing the funding: i. Two staff members attended Contagious equine metritis (CEM) laboratory training at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in August 2018. ii. A laboratory staff member participated in the NAHLN Quality Management System (QMS) workshop at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in July 2018. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1) Infrastructure Support (Personnel Salary and Fringe Benefits): Overall, the laboratory must maintain qualified staff and be positioned to continue to hire qualified professionals to provide for ongoing reliable laboratory results, that support surveillance efforts and help identify disease outbreaks. The NAHLN funding will be used to support the personnel (salary and fringe benefits) contributing to necropsy, receiving of specimens, administering LIMS, and maintaining the QMS in compliance with ISO 17025 Standard. 2) Training and Continuing Education: Regular training is required to support the continued excellence in foreign and emerging animal disease diagnostics. Exposure to latest scientific developments, new technologies, and attendance at relevant national meetings must be provided to permit continued excellence and improvement of the quality system and technical competency. The staff will be provided opportunities for continuing professional education. The NAHLN funding will be used to train the staff on foreign and emerging animal diseases diagnostics and QMS. 3) Foreign Animal Disease Investigations: The AHDL will be participating in the NAHLN proficiency testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. The AHDL will work with the NJ State Veterinarian and APHIS Assistant District Director to investigate suspect cases of foreign animal diseases. The NAHLN funding will be used to procure laboratory supplies in support of proficiency testing and foreign animal disease investigations. 4) LIMS Improvements: The AHDL will work on LIMS improvements such as implementation of cloud based LIMS to improve performance and lab results messaging to the NAHLN LMS for additional tests.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Strengthened Laboratory Sample Receiving: The New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (AHDL) is a level 2 laboratory of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) and performed surveillance testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. The testing included avian Influenza surveillance of live bird markets, auctions, and backyard flocks in NJ. The laboratory participated in foreign animal disease investigations in collaboration with the New Jersey State Veterinarian and USDA-APHIS-VS Assistant District Director. Funds were used to support necropsy specimen collection, quality assurance compliance, sample receipt, and sample accessioning. Successfully Participated in Proficiency Testing for Foreign and Emerging Animal Diseases: The AHDL successful participation in the following proficiency tests offered by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory. Successful completion of proficiency tests is an important step in emergency preparedness and surveillance for foreign and emerging animal diseases. Avian Influenza (AI) Swine Influenza (SIV) New Castle Disease (ND) Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Classical Swine Fever (CSF) Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) Successfully Participated in Emergency Preparedness Exercise: The AHDL participated in an emergency response tabletop exercise offered by the NAHLN program office in Aug 2018 along with other NAHLN laboratories from across the nation. This exercise was designed to test NAHLN laboratory response to the introduction of virulent Newcastle Disease (vND). The exercise covered the first three days of a vND outbreak investigation, and focused on biosafety practices, laboratory capacity when enhanced biosafety conditions are enacted, as well as communications and outbreak response policies. The exercise helped laboratory identify resource gaps for outbreak response at the biosafety/biosecurity, technical, and laboratory policy levels. Strengthened Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS): The AHDL successfully completed a NAHLN messaging competency exercise for Influenza-A Virus-Avian offered in April 2018. The competency demonstrated the AHDL's ability to send Avian Influenza results to the NAHLN Laboratory Messaging Services (LMS). Improved Laboratory's Quality Assurance Compliance: The laboratory was admitted as a NAHLN member laboratory for another year after successful submission of the NAHLN checklist and quality assurance documents. This approval lasts until April 2019. The laboratory obtained ISO 17025 accreditation in July 2017 and underwent surveillance audit in July 2018.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The funding was used to keep abreast of foreign and emerging animal disease updates. The following training/workshops were attended by the AHDL staff utilizing the funding: i. Contagious equine metritis (CEM)laboratory training at National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, IA in October 2016. ii. NPIP Avian Influenza workshop in Atlanta, GA in August 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?i. Participate in the NAHLN mission related meetings, trainings, webinars, and workshops ii. Participate in proficiency testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases iii. Strengthen sample receiving, accessioning, and necropsy in support of foreign and emerging animal disease surveillance and investigations iv. Maintain quality management system in compliance with the ISO 17025 standard
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Strengthened Laboratory Sample Receiving: The New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (AHDL)is a member of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) and performed surveillance testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. The testing included avian Influenza surveillance of live bird markets, auctions, and backyard flocks in NJ. The laboratory also participated in Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS),Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) proficiency testing. The laboratory participated in foreign animal disease investigations in collaboration with the New Jersey State Veterinarian and USDA-APHIS-VS Assistant District Director. Funds were used to support necropsy specimen collection, quality assurance compliance, sample receipt, and accessioning for above programs. Participated in Emergency Preparedness Exercise/Drill: The AHDL participated in an emergency preparedness exercise in collaboration with the NAHLN program office along with 23 other laboratories from across the nation. The goal was to test following capabilities: I. Capability to receive and capture data on large number of bar coded samples for Avian Influenza (AI) testing. II. Capability to report out large number of AI test results to the NAHLN utilizing electronic messaging feature of the AHDL's Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). The exercise was conducted on three consecutive days at high volume. The exercise highlighted the AHDL's strengths and weaknesses in accessioning AI samples and workflow that may happen during a disease outbreak. It tested staff skills handling barcode equipment, use of software for bar code entry, and electronic messaging of laboratory results. During the exercise the AHDL identified a bar code reading issue that was referred to the LIMS vendor for resolution. Overall, the AHDL's sample receiving, accessioning, and result reporting workflows performed satisfactorily during the exercise. Improved Laboratory's Quality Assurance Compliance: The laboratory was admitted as a NAHLN member laboratory for another year after successful submission of the NAHLN checklist and quality assurance documents. This approval lasts until April 2018. The laboratoryobtained ISO 17025 accreditation in July 2017. A laboratory staff member participated in the NAHLN QMS training in July 2017.
Publications
|
|