The state paid for construction and owns the center. MSU runs it. The lab is the only place in Michigan equipped to detect potentially deadly West Nile virus. It has the highest level of security of any animal testing center in Michigan, capable of keeping scientists safe from monkey pox, anthrax or other diseases that could surface. It also would handle state testing for mad cow disease, which devastated farms throughout Europe, should an infection hit the US.

The sprawling center on MSU's south side replaces a set of smaller and more outdated labs that were spread across campus. The new building has better ventilation and security systems to handle more threatening organisms. The center has an $8-million annual budget mostly covered by fees for services.

Last year, scientists at the old center labs carried out more than 1.2 million tests on 60,000 submissions--either blood or tissue samples or dead animals. They hope to do more this year. The lab employs about 150 scientists and researchers. Tests can range from detecting antibodies in the blood to examining parasites found on an animal.