The Nebraska Public Health Laboratory is located on the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Campus and is a cooperative partnership among UNMC, Nebraska Medicine, and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The community we serve are the health systems in the State of Nebraska. Our mission is to protect the health and safety of Nebraskans through diagnostic laboratory science, technology, and education.

Our laboratory does human diagnostic, epidemiological, and environmental testing. NPHL diagnostic testing includes leads, respiratory diseases, and emerging pathogens. Epidemiological testing includes foodborne diseases, TB surveillance, and antimicrobial resistance. Environmental testing includes arbovirus mosquito testing, wastewater surveillance and opioid bio-surveillance.

NPHL is also part of the Laboratory Response Network, which is a network of local, state, and federal public health, military, food testing, veterinary and environmental testing laboratories. The purpose of this is to provide laboratory diagnostics and the capacity to respond to biological and chemical threats and other public health emergencies.

To read more about the history of NPHL, click on the link: The First Hundred Years of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory: A Major Role Played in the Development of Public Health (unmc.edu)