The Laboratory Services Division serves the state of Colorado with three main roles in promoting public health through emergency preparedness: training, testing and incident response.

Through partnerships at the regional and national level, the state laboratory is able to respond quickly to preparedness concerns, and share valuable expertise with other state laboratories at the national level.

Biological Emergency Preparedness Lab Informaton:

The Microbiology program at the CDPHE Lab serves as a Reference Laboratory in the national Laboratory Response Network (LRN). As a designated LRN Reference Laboratory, the state laboratory provides confirmatory testing for potential agents of bioterrorism sent to the state lab from LRN Sentinel Laboratories (typically clinical and hospital laboratories). Scientists are trained to identify bacteria that cause anthrax, plague, tularemia and many other diseases of public health concern.

Chemical Emergency Preparedness Lab Information:
The Chemistry program at the CDPHE Lab serves as a Level 2 laboratory in the national Laboratory Response Network. Chemists at the state lab are trained to detect human exposure to a number of toxic chemicals including cyanide, toxic metals, volatile organic compounds, nerve agents and other toxins.