Mission Statement

The Division of Scientific Resources (DSR) is committed to partnership with CDC laboratorians in responding to public health needs through supply of state-of-the-art technology, expertise, and high quality products and services. DSR is the primary laboratory support infrastructure for CDC and serves other scientific functions as well. Although DSR is housed in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), we strive to meet the needs of customers in all CDC programs.

In carrying out its mission, DSR provides these services to CDC staff:

• Provides laboratory supplies, glassware, mammalian tissue cultures, microbiological media and buffers, oligonucleotides, peptides, custom reagents, and other laboratory materials.
• Provides services for laboratory investigators in protein and DNA synthesis and sequencing, genomic sequencing, microarrays, proteomics, molecular modeling, and bioinformatics.
• Conducts collaborative research in cell biology and tissue culture technology for application to infectious disease activities.
• Provides technical support for dispensing, lyophilizing, capping, labeling, and distribution of CDC Reference Reagents.
• Produces specialized reagents and kits and distributes them to members of the Laboratory Response Network in compliance with federal regulations.
• Provides services and expertise in development of Quality Systems to support compliance with FDA regulations for the production, distribution, and use of laboratory diagnostic reagents.
• Receives, triages, processes, and distributes specimens to CDC laboratories for reference diagnostic testing, research studies, and epidemics, and reports diagnostic test results to submitting organizations.
• Manages all CDC exports, ensures compliance with regulations and serves as CDC liaison with the Department of Commerce for export related issues.
• Provides processing services for serum and other biological specimens of epidemiological and special significance to CDC’s research and diagnostic activities.
• Obtains and distributes experimental and orphaned vaccines, drugs, antisera, antitoxins, and immune globulins to physicians for use in patient therapy.
• Procures research animals and provides veterinary and husbandry services.