Welcome to the website pages of the NYSDOH Wadsworth Center’s Laboratory of Viral Disease (LVD). In the following pages you will find many interesting and helpful resources. While navigating through them, you can explore Virology news, current test menus and ordering information, as well as recent publications and presentations by LVD staff.  Additionally, there are descriptions of the various laboratory sections within the LVD and contact details should you require more information. Thank you for your interest.

The Laboratory of Viral Diseases (LVD) encompasses a diverse service and research program for viral diseases of public health importance. Efforts include those for surveillance, outbreak investigation, special disease and emerging pathogen detection, reference testing, pandemic preparedness and response, the development and investigation of new testing methodologies, the investigation of viral infections and their associated pathogenesis and disease, and the education and training of graduate students and fellows.

As part of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Wadsworth Center, the laboratories of the LVD are located at the David Axelrod Institute in Albany, NY. The LVD works closely with both the Bureau of Communicable Diseases and the Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Control Program at the New York State Department of Health, and collaborates on numerous projects with colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, other state and regional public health laboratories, university and other research facilities, and various industry partners.

Within this program are the following laboratories:

  • General Virology
  • Enteric Virus
  • Viral Encephalitis 
  • Research & Development Group

CLIA# 33D2005937 | PFI# 8523

Program Updates

Dr. Kirsten St. George

Wadsworth Center Scientist Dr. Kirsten St. George Featured on the New York Public Health Now Podcast

Dr. Kirsten St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at Wadsworth Center, joined Commissioner McDonald and Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner Morne on the New York Public Health Now podcast. The podcast discusses timely topics with front line public health specialists.
Sequencing in the Advanced Genomic Technologies Core at the Wadsworth Center

Wadsworth Center Identifies Two Sub-lineages of BA.2—BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1—Potentially Contributing to Increased Transmission Reported in Central New York and Surrounding Regions

Please see New York State Department of Health Press Release More about COVID-19 Variant Data
APHL Lab Matters Spring 2022 Edition

Wadsworth Center Scientists Featured in Association of Public Health Laboratories' Lab Matters

Dr. St. George is quoted in the feature article beginning on page 5 and our own Infectious Disease Fellow Nora Cleary is featured on pg 19. Nora has been selected for the Edith Hsiung Memorial prize for her abstract/presentation on Hep A whole genome sequencing.  This is one of the two top travel awards from the American Society for Microbiology for a student, fellow, or technologist, presenting their work at the annual, international Clinical Virology Symposium, to be held this year in West Palm Beach.
Dr. Kirsten St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases,

Wadsworth Center's Dr. Kirsten St. George - Developing Diagnostic Capabilities for Arboviruses

Dr. Kirsten St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at Wadsworth Center, was recently invited to speak at a technical workshop hosted by the Trust for Science Technology and Research of Puerto Rico, the Brain Trust for Tropical Diseases Research & Prevention, and the CDC Dengue Branch.
Dr. Kirsten St. George

Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Kirsten St. George receives the 2017 Diagnostic Virology Award

At the recent Clinical Virology Symposium in Savannah, Georgia, Dr. St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the Wadsworth Center, was presented with the 2017 Diagnostic Virology Award. Established in 1985, this international career-achievement award from the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology, acknowledges an individual whose contributions to viral diagnosis have had a major impact on the discipline.
Digitally colorized transmission electron micrograph of Norovirus virions. Photo credit: Charles D. Humphrey, CDC

Wadsworth Center Virology Laboratory Receives Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Funding for CaliciNet Outbreak Support Center

Norovirus is a primary cause of acute gastroenteritis and foodborne disease in the United States where, according to the CDC, it is responsible for "19 - 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis, 1.7 - 1.9 million outpatient visits and 400,000 emergency room visits per year. It also contributes to between 56,000 - 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 - 800 deaths per year, mostly among young children and the elderly." 
Tissue Culture Tube

Wadsworth Center’s Virology Laboratory Finds Clue in New York City Mumps Outbreak

Considering that the number of mumps cases per year has decreased by more than 99% since the introduction of vaccines against the disease, it is relatively rare these days to hear about a mumps outbreak. But that is just what has happened this summer as more than 45 in the Nassau County city of Long Beach became ill. What makes this outbreak so surprising is that this population has a high vaccination rate.
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