A ribbon cutting for the new home of the MU College of Veterinary Medicine Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, 2008, at Discovery Ridge. RADIL Director Dr. Lela Riley will discuss the laboratory’s mission before introducing speakers Dr. Brady J. Deaton, MU chancellor; Dr. Neil Olson, College of Veterinary Medicine dean; and Dr. Michael Nichols, UM vice president of research and economic development.

After the ribbon cutting, tours of the new facility will be offered and refreshments will be served.

RADIL is the second tenant to locate in Discovery Ridge. Columbia’s Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories moved some if its operations to the 500-acre research park earlier this year. RADIL is the second-largest research animal diagnostic laboratory in the world and the only one that is part of an academic institution. The facility serves more than 1,000 clients, including universities, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, biotechnology companies, and hospitals. As part of its academic role in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the program has trained more specialists in comparative medicine than any other program in the country.

RADIL was started in 1968 with funding from the National Institutes of Health. When NIH no longer funded rodent diagnostic laboratories 15 years ago, the laboratory became a fee-for-service based business. In FY08, revenues from the laboratory services totaled nearly $9.2 million.

Construction of RADIL’s $15.5 million Discovery Ridge facility was funded with laboratory revenues without use of state tax dollars. RADIL, generates an annual payroll of $3.3 million, and employs nine faculty members, 52 full-time staff members, and 48 post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. The new center will expand opportunities for economic growth in mid-Missouri and create more jobs for researchers, skilled staff and technicians.

Discovery Ridge, located on the University of Missouri South Farm, encompasses 125 acres adjacent to Highway 63, three miles southeast of the main Columbia campus. During the next 25 years, planned expansion is expected to increase the park to 500 acres; create 300,000 jobs, $17 billion in personal income and $1.2 billion in net general revenue; and have a $33 billion economic output.

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