A new high-tech, high-security facility based in Wooster will allow Ohio State researchers at the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) to study microscopic organisms that threaten Ohio’s crops and food-producing animals.

The $22.3 million facility was built to meet the second-highest federal security rating – Biosafety Level 3 – necessary to handle agents that can cause serious and lethal diseases.

The facility will be used to develop diagnostic tools, treatments, vaccines, or genetically resistant animals and plants to reduce economic losses from diseases and pests for Ohio’s $90-plus billion agricultural sector, the state’s largest industry.

OARDC, the largest university agricultural bioscience research center in the United States, is currently conducting studies related to avian influenza, soybean rust and emerald ash borer.

To learn more, visit http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/paar/t02_pageview/Home.htm.