In 2008, the University of Missouri Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory opened its new $15.5 million facility at Discovery Ridge along U.S. Highway 63 south of Columbia.

In that same year, a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory was dedicated on the MU campus. One of 13 such facilities in the country, the state-of-the-art laboratory provided researchers the necessary tools to study emerging infectious diseases such as West Nile virus and tularemia, pathogens commonly found in Missouri, and to assist in national, state and local public-health efforts in the event of a bioterrorist or infectious disease emergency.