Project Summary Overview The Arkansas Livestock & Poultry Commission Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ALPC-VDL) is a 27-person, full-service veterinary lab centrally located in the city of Little Rock. Its scope of accreditation conforms to the ISO 17025 standard, and it is the only NAHLN laboratory in the state. Our accreditation status may be verified via the A2LA web page. The laboratory is organized around the veterinary pathology service with sections devoted to necropsy, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, virology, microbiology, clinical pathology, serology, and toxicology. Approximately 20,000 diagnostic cases are processed each year, with an additional 28,000 EIA cases plus another 5000 NPIP cases. The core competency of the lab is the large-animal necropsy service. A moment's reflection will indicate that the typical laboratory specimen may be shipped overnight to any laboratory nationwide; however, this scenario simply does not apply to a livestock carcass. What this means is that the Vet- LIRN's stated desire to augment the CVM's capability to characterize animal diagnostic specimens will find no more competent partner than the ALPC-VDL.