Our research

Animal health

Virology laboratory

The Virology Laboratory is a front line facility for animal biosecurity – particularly during animal disease emergencies – and is routinely involved in a wide range of activities in three main areas:

  • Diagnosis and surveillance of viral diseases of animals and aquatic species
  • Electron microscopy
  • Health certification for animals for export
  • Research

Virology lab

Microbiology and Parasitology

The MaP group are specialists in the diagnosis and control of bacterial diseases and parasites of terrestrial and aquatic species. The group collaborates with other government institutes, universities, industry groups and field veterinarians to improve health, biosecurity and food safety within Australian animal production industries.

MaP applies state-of-the-art immunological, molecular, genomic and computational technologies to develop and implement new tests for disease diagnosis and surveillance. MaP researchers are also focussed on improving animal health through the development of diseases control measures, such as vaccines, prebiotic and probiotic treatments for production-limiting endemic pathogens.

Biotechnology

The Biotechnology team focuses on the genetics and genomics of inherited and infectious diseases impacting agriculture. They have implemented advanced technologies and automation to assist farmers, industry and government with disease diagnosis, molecular epidemiology, animal welfare, accreditation and market access. These capabilities have strengthened the response to emergency animal and plant diseases. Research collaborations with several institutions continue to expand into epidemiology of pests and diseases as well as identifying the molecular basis of inherited disease in livestock. A veterinary forensic service has also been established to support investigations into animal cruelty/welfare, stock theft and compliance cases.

Genetics lab

Australian Centre for Genomic Epidemiological Microbiology (AUSGEM)

AUSGEM is a collaborative partnership between the NSW DPI and the i3 institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). AUSGEM applies a 'One Health', genomic epidemiological approach by combining the unique and complementary skills and resources of the founding partners. Specifically it is harnessing the high throughput genomic, proteomic and bioinformatics skills available within the i3 institute, UTS and the pathogen libraries, laboratory and epidemiological skills available at EMAI and DPI.

Veterinary Laboratories

The veterinary laboratories at EMAI are a critical ‘first line of defence’ in providing early detection of any emerging or exotic farm animal diseases to livestock producers of NSW through Government veterinary officers, other district veterinarians, private veterinary practitioners and industry veterinarians.  The laboratory monitors the disease status of the State’s livestock flocks and herds and provides accreditation for freedom from specific diseases. The ISO9001 accredited laboratories provide specialist research and diagnosis in the fields of animal pathology, virology, microbiology, immunology, and parasitology. The diagnostic laboratories provide NATA 17025 accredited diagnostic testing.

Cattle

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