The Laboratory Response Network (LRN) is a consortium of local, state and federal public health, clinical, food testing, veterinary, and environmental testing laboratories intended to provide a coordinated and immediate response to biological and chemical terrorism, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health emergencies.
National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies (NCAN) Open House
Commissioner of Health, Dr. Howard Zucker reflected that Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology frees those who, like Stephen Hawking, are locked-in by allowing the silent to speak and the immobile to move. It aids those with injury, illness and stroke by taking advantage of lifelong brain plasticity that not long ago we didn’t realize existed. With the use of hardware and software, thoughts can control a keyboard enabling the user to text, email or move a wheelchair.
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National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies (NCAN) Open House
Wadsworth Center’s Bacteriology Laboratory Plays a Pivotal Role in New York City's Legionella Outbreak
The Wadsworth Center’s Bacteriology Laboratory played a pivotal role in the recent Legionella outbreak in New York City. The classical approach to Legionella testing is culture, but, as Legionella are slow growing and fastidious organisms and the water samples are usually heavily contaminated with other bacteria, obtaining results can take a long time, delaying the required public health response. In order to support more rapid decision making, Dr.
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Wadsworth Center’s Bacteriology Laboratory Plays a Pivotal Role in New York City's Legionella Outbreak
Newborn Screening Program Pilot Study: Hurler Syndrome
The New York State Newborn Screening Program screens all infants born in the state for 47 different diseases. In addition, the program is currently performing a pilot study with Dr. Melissa Wasserstein (pictured left), from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, to screen for four additional diseases that are lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). Four New York City hospitals are participating and approximately 500 infants are being tested weekly in the pilot study. The newest disorder to be tested is called Hurler syndrome.
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Newborn Screening Program Pilot Study: Hurler Syndrome
Dr. Anil Ojha - Turning the Tide on Tuberculosis
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 2 million people are infected and 23,000 people die annually from drug resistant bacteria in the United States alone. Drug resistant tuberculosis in particular is described by CDC as a Serious Threat. For these reasons, bacterial drug resistance is a primary research focus for the Wadsworth Center.
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Dr. Anil Ojha - Turning the Tide on Tuberculosis
New Wadsworth Researcher Studies Tuberculosis Drug-Resistance
When new risks to public health increase, the Wadsworth Center finds new scientists to address them.
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New Wadsworth Researcher Studies Tuberculosis Drug-Resistance
Effective December 31, 2025, the New York State (NYS) Department of Health’s (DOH’s) Environmental Proficiency Testing (PT) Program will no longer offer PT samples for all Chemistry and Bacteriology TNI/NELAP fields of accreditation.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Visits Wadsworth Center's David Axelrod Institute for Public Health
On Monday June 15th the Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Kathy Hochul, visited the David Axelrod Institute. She had specifically asked to learn more about our preparedness and biodefense activities, so the first stop was a tour of the Biodefense Laboratory. Dr. Christina Egan described the laboratory’s capabilities to detect agents-of-concern in white powders, as well as other environmental samples, and the major push in the development and evaluation of new technologies since the anthrax attacks of 2001.
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Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Visits Wadsworth Center's David Axelrod Institute for Public Health
The Wadsworth Center is staffed through the NYS Department of Health (DOH) and Health Research, Inc. (HRI). We encourage you to navigate to their respective pages if interested in a career at the Center.
Laboratories that analyze the function and/or the phenotype of white blood cells (lymphocytes/leukocytes) comprising the immune system are surveyed and permitted through the Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (CLEP).
Permit Category Descriptions are provided.
Laboratories are required to demonstrate compliance with: