Education and Training

In addition to traditional academic education, the laboratory provides education and training programs that reach every county in Iowa, serving laboratorians, first responders, sanitarians, and others.  Education topics include emergency preparedness, lab safety, regulations, infectious diseases and newborn screen

Clinical Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity 

The State Hygienic Laboratory collaborates with partners across the nation, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), and American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) International to strengthen biosafety and biosecurity practices in public health and clinical laboratories.

SHL strives to enhance biosafety and biosecurity capacity in public health and clinical laboratories throughout Iowa by offering biosafety and biosecurity tools, resources, and expertise to its laboratory partners. 

Resources

• APHL Biosafety and Biosecurity Resources  

• CDC Safe Labs

• Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) 6th Edition (2020)

• MMWR – Guidelines for Safe Work Practices in Human and Animal Medical Diagnostic Laboratories 

•  Clinical Laboratory Risk Assessment Form

Emergency Preparedness 

Sentinel-Clinical Laboratories 

The State Hygienic Laboratory provides information, training, resources, and support to sentinel-level clinical laboratories throughout Iowa through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement. This work strengthens Iowa’s public health and clinical laboratory network and ensures it is poised to quickly respond to a biological or chemical threat. Laboratories may contact us to request biological or chemical threat consultation. 

WMD/HazMat Teams     

The State Hygienic Laboratory partners with the Iowa National Guard, 71st Civil Support Team, to support Iowa’s Weapons of Mass Destruction/HazMat teams with all-hazards analysis of credible threat unknowns and training on the collection of samples and use/interpretation of field instrumentation.