Our Emergency Preparedness laboratories are ready 24/7 to respond to public safety threats involving:

  • Weaponized biological agents
  • Poisons and chemical contaminants

These labs can detect:

  • Causative agents of diseases such as anthrax, plague, ricin toxicity
  • Emerging infectious diseases such as MERS-CoV, Ebola and Mpox
  • Unknown or suspicious chemical substances

Our teams engage in regular training exercises to assist if a deliberate act or emerging pathogen poses a risk to public health. We work with federal, state and local agencies to strengthen North Carolina's crisis response in such emergencies.

Learn more about our laboratories

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Meet Our Staff: Jin

The BTEP unit is an Advanced Reference Laboratory within the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) international Laboratory Response Network (LRN).

We ensure timely local response during threat incidents. We can also perform surge capacity testing for other LRN laboratories.

Our unit also serves as a Smallpox (Variola) testing laboratory for the CDC. This high-level security BSL3 laboratory functions as a referral laboratory for:

  • Hospital laboratories
  • Reference laboratories
  • Law enforcement
  • Other North Carolina public health partners and agencies

BTEP works closely with sentinel clinical and national laboratories within the LRN.

We provide:

  • Training, outreach, and consultative services related to:
    • Organism referral
    • Sample packaging and shipping
  • Communications to several partners, including:
    • Clinical laboratories
    • Health departments
    • Reference laboratories
    • HazMat
    • Law enforcement and other first responders across North Carolina 

Meet Our Staff: David

The CTAT unit uses various types of mass spectrometry for testing samples.

The lab tests unknown substances, such as suspicious white powders in mail packages. We also test for the presence of:

  • Toxic metals
  • Cyanide poisoning
  • Drugs like fentanyl
  • Nerve agents

We work closely with federal and state agencies.

From 2019 to 2020, we were part of a nationwide investigation into an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses. The vaping products were found to contain a mixture of substances that caused illnesses across the country.

Read more:

Meet Our Emergency Preparedness Lab Staff

Learn about our staff's career pathways and what they enjoy about their work.
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