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Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center

Welcome

Our Mission

The mission of the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center (PDRC) is threefold: teaching, research, and service in poultry medicine.

The teaching function includes teaching of poultry medicine in the professional curriculum in veterinary medicine, teaching poultry medicine in the poultry science curriculum, preparing veterinarians to work in the poultry industry via the Master of Avian Medicine program, and training researchers in poultry medicine through the MS and Ph.D. programs in Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Pathology, and Poultry Science.

The research programs emphasize problems in the diagnosis and control of economically important diseases of poultry. Applied and basic research is focused on solving problems of importance to the industry.

The service function exists to provide diagnostic and consultative services to the commercial poultry industry. This is accomplished by providing diagnostic, necropsy, consultation, and field services to local companies as well as companies located throughout the United States, and the world.

The three functions of teaching, research, and service are in many ways interchangeable. For example, service to the poultry industry also provides material for teaching and keeps faculty members abreast of industry problems so they can better focus their research. Teaching prepares students for careers in research and service. Research develops new knowledge for teaching and improved services. In the end, all three functions center around teaching and learning.

Overview

PDRC is part of the Department of Population Health, one of seven departments in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. The faculty and staff are housed in the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center (PDRC) located approximately 2 miles from the main veterinary medicine complex. The PDRC was constructed in 1958 by the Agricultural Experiment Station of the College of Agriculture. In 1968 the administration of the PDRC was transferred to the College of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to graduate programs, the PDRC offers course work for DVM-degree seeking students, courses for undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture, and diagnostic assistance and consultation to the world's poultry producers.

Facilities

The PDRC houses well equipped laboratories for virology, bacteriology, mycoplasmology, biotechnology, immunogenetics, histopathology, and molecular sequencing. Diagnostic laboratories include a post-mortem facility with adjacent ancillary laboratories for bacteriology, serology, and PCR. Animal care facilities encompass 6 filtered positive air pressure buildings, 6 semi-isolation rooms in 3 separate buildings, 3 buildings containing over 120 small Horsfal-type isolator units, and 4 conventional type poultry houses. The PDRC also has a seminar / conference room, a necropsy facility for research and, a photographic studio and darkroom, along with office space for faculty, staff, and graduate students.

This page was last updated November 2011.