Iowa's state Board of Regents has approved plans for the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine to begin planning for a $75 million Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL), an estimated 83,000-88,000 sq. ft. new building.

According to the Sept. 13 statement, in 2018, the Iowa Legislature committed $63.5 million in state support to the project over six years, beginning with $1 million for project planning in the current year.

Iowa State senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert said $75 million is the sum of the state commitment, available university funds and estimated private gifts. He said this year's planning will include an assessment of whether $75 million is adequate to address all the needs in a 2014 VDL study -- such as efficient processing of cases, biosafety and biosecurity requirements and the ability to quickly identify emerging diseases before they become widespread.

Wickert said planning could consider other options -- such as VDL units for which biocontainment isn't critical remaining in the current lab space.

"This is a critical facility, really not just for Iowa State, as much as it is for Iowa, the nation and the world," Iowa State president Wendy Wintersteen told the regents. "If we don't understand diseases that are occurring on livestock and poultry operations, then we really can't prepare for the future."

"Iowa State operates the only full-service and fully accredited veterinary diagnostic lab in the state," Wickert said. "It's critical to the state's $32.5 billion animal agriculture industry that we maintain and improve this service."

The current VDL is housed in the College of Veterinary Medicine building, which opened in 1976. Except for a specialized biosecurity addition in 2004, the overall footprint of the lab hasn't substantially expanded or been updated since its construction. The volume of diagnostic services, research and teaching has increased dramatically since then, as has the people providing it: from 10 faculty and 20 staff in 1976 to 25 faculty and 120 technical staff last year. They processed more than 86,000 diagnostic case submissions for livestock producers in fiscal year 2017, the college said prior to the Board of Regents meeting.