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SEPRL
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SOUTHEAST POULTRY RESEARCH LABORATORY

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Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory Mission Statement:

The mission of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory is to provide scientific solutions to national and international exotic, emerging and endemic poultry viral diseases through a comprehensive research program emphasizing basic and applied research in diagnostics, prevention, and control strategies, prediction of disease outbreak, molecular epidemiology, and understanding disease pathogenesis.

 

US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Agricultural Research Service South Atlantic Area

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory 934 College Station Road Athens, GA 30605 Phone: 706-546-3434 Fax: 706-546-3161

 History

The Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) was established in 1962 to study air sacculitis in broiler chickens.  The laboratory's research program has subsequently expanded and evolved to address numerous emerging disease problems of the poultry industry. The SEPRL scientific staff provides a diverse pool of professional expertise, including veterinarians, virologists, immunologists, pathologists and molecular biologists. Support from technicians, animal caretakers, and administrative office personnel are critically important to the overall operation of the laboratory.  The current total staff of 65 also includes contract support personnel, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. The laboratory complex consists of many separate buildings located on 32 acres purchased from and adjacent to the University of Georgia.  Specialized facilities, designed and operated to contain highly infectious diseases of poultry, allow research on these diseases to be performed without posing a threat to the environment, the public, or to the poultry industry. Throughout five decades of service, SEPRL has maintained close ties with industry, academia and other government agencies, consistently striving to provide an open, responsive research atmosphere. In 2015, The Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory merged into SEPRL and is designated as a worksite of SEPRL. SEPRL is undergoing facility modernization with replacement of all facilities between 2017 and 2024.

 

DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO SEPRL

INFORMATION ABOUT ATHENS, GEORGIA


David Suarez--Acting Laboratory Director 

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeast Area

934 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30605

Phone: 706-546-3434 Fax: 706-546-3161

 


Erica Spackman--Acting Research Leader

Exotic and Emerging Avian Viral Diseases

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeast Area

934 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30605

Phone: 706-546-3617 Fax: 706-546-3161

 

 

 

John Dunn--Research Leader

Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Unit

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeast Area

934 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30605

Phone: 706-546-3642 Fax: 706-546-3161

 

 

 

John Dunn--Research Leader

Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeast Area

934 College Station Rd, Athens, GA. 30605

Phone: 706-546-3642, Fax: 706-546-3161

 

Groundbreaking Ceremony

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The Honorable Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) delivered the keynote address at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new research facility at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL), located at the U. S. National Poultry Research Center in Athens, Georgia, on Friday, November 3, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The new facility will expand SEPRL capabilities to respond to highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in providing research information for eradication and control, as well as data for control of Newcastle disease, enteric viruses and Marek’s disease, West Nile virus, and other exotic and emerging viruses of poultry and other birds.

In addition to Secretary Purdue the program included remarks from:

 

ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) implements poultry health research under the following three programmatic areas:  1) exotic and emerging viruses of poultry such as avian influenza and Newcastle disease; 2) oncogenic viruses such as Marek’s disease; and 3) pathogens that are endemic in U.S poultry production, which are the cause of enteric viral and respiratory diseases of poultry.

SEPRL Modernization Schedule:

Administrative and BSL-2 Research Facility – Completed October 2021

BSL-3/ABSL-3/BSL-3Ag Research Facility – Completed July 2022

ABSL-2 Facility – Beginning December 2021 and proposed completion March 2024