Charles C. Allen Jr. Biotechnology Laboratory

Poultry Research

The Charles C. Allen Jr. Biotechnology Laboratory is a world class facility dedicated to poultry disease research and diagnostics. The Allen Laboratory is a biosafety level BSL-3, USDA-licensed and NAHLN-approved laboratory, used by scientists to study highly virulent poultry pathogens in a safe and biosecure working environment.

The 16,635 square foot facility built in 1997 contains two multi-purpose laboratory suites, a gene-sequencing laboratory and six rooms for housing poultry. The laboratories and animal rooms are equipped with airlocks that prevent the introduction or release of infectious agents.

The ventilation system used for the contained areas of the Allen Laboratory is a single pass (all fresh air) pressure gradient, HEPA filtra- tion design. The BSL-3 designated laboratories and poultry rooms also have shower change rooms, as required. The BSL-3 animal rooms are equipped with HEPA-filtered stainless steel glove-port isolation cabinets with dip tanks.

The Allen Laboratory has a computer-controlled liquid waste decontamination system that inactivates microorganisms by steam sterilization, as well as several autoclaves for solid waste inactivation. A BSL-3 necropsy room is available in the event of an emergency disease (avian influenza or exotic Newcastle disease) involving poultry or wild birds.