ESTABLISHMENT, ORGANIZATION, MANAGEMENT AND 
FUNCTIONS OF AN INVESTIGATIVE AND DIAGNOSTIC 
LABORATORY WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL 
ANIMAL MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 
W. C. Dolowy and L. J. Swango* 
The following aspects of the laboratory will be dis- 
cused in detail : objectives of the laboratory, i.e., balance 
between diagnostic effort and in depth studies of several 
conditions; the optimum organization to attain these 
objectives; raising funds to support the laboratory, 
sources of funds, state and federal; recruitment of per- 
sonnel; the optimal space required and attempts to pro- 
vide adequate space ; lists of functions of the pathologist, 
virologist, histologist, bacteriologist, clinical chemist, 
secretary; lists of specific determinations performed; 
relation of the laboratory to institutional committees: 
relation of the laboratory to the research investigators; 
relation of the laboratory to the clinical veterinarian; 
criteria for selecting cases to be studied; how much 
"interesting outside work" to accept; how and when to 
refuse additional work; whether to conduct routine 
pathology on experiments at investigators request; par- 
tial vs. complete necropsies; when to conduct virologic 
determination on the premises and when to subcontract 
to other agencies; reporting results to researchers and 
clinical veterinarians; written "vs." or "and" oral re- 
ports; data storage and how to submit an annual 
report. 
A retrospective evaluation will be described of the 
usefulness of the laboratory to the clinical veterinarian 
and to the research investigators. Also to be described 
will be such questions as: Who is qualified to judge 
the usefulness of the laboratory and what criteria may 
be applicable? What would be done differently if this 
whole project were to be started anew? 
INTRODUCTION** 
The laboratory facility which is discussed in 
this paper was established in 1969 at the Uni- 
versity of Washington in Seattle with funds 
awarded by the Animal Resources Branch, Divi- 
sion of Research Resources, National Institutes 
of Health. The project was approved as a Diag- 
nostic Laboratory in the Department of Experi- 
* Department of Exeprimental Animal Medicine, School of Medi- 
cine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. 
*♦ Supported in part by funds from grant 5 P06 RR00489 from the 
Animal Resources Branch, Division of Research Facilities and Re- 
sources, National Institutes of Health. 
mental Animal Medicine, School of Medicine, 
with funding to be made on an annual basis 
and with competitive renewal of the project to 
occur at the end of 5 years. 
ESTABLISHMENT 
Federal funds for support of this project 
during the first 3 grant years have been 
awarded in the amounts shown in the following 
table : 
Table I. — Funding of Direct Costs of Diagnostic Lab- 
oratory for Grant Years 1, 2, and 3 
Expense 
Grant Year 
Category 
1 (69-70) 
2 (70-71) 
3 (71-72) 
Personnel 
- . 35,020 
60,750 
65,094 
Equipment - 
23,623 
4,246 
6.640 
Supplies - . -- 
.... ... . 8,557 
8,637 
10,974 
Travel 
1,200 
1,200 
1,200 
Publication Costs 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
Other 
600 
70,000 
75,833 
84,908 
Personnel 
receiving direct 
salary 
support 
from these funds during grant years 2 and 3 
included: veterinary virologist (D.V.M., Ph.D.), 
virology technician (M.S.), microbiology tech- 
nician (M.S. equivalent), histology technician 
(B.S. equivalent), medical technologist (B.S., 
certified M.T.), secretary, and student helper. 
The diagnostic laboratory currently fits into 
the administrative and service structure of the 
University of Washington as shown by the fol- 
lowing illustration with administrative respon- 
sibility shown in solid arrows and those who 
come to us for service shown in dotted arrows 
as service input: 
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