Hours of Operation

Monday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thursday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

The Bureau of Public Health Laboratories in Jacksonville was established in 1903 and is the central laboratory.

The laboratory is located on the northern side of downtown Jacksonville, just off I-95 along the banks of Hogans Creek.

Testing Services

Virology

  • Cutting edge laboratory developed test (LDT) assay development and deployment related to emerging pathogen detection
  • Measles testing for epidemiology investigations
  • IgG and PCR testing
  • MERS coronavirus detection
  • Influenza A, influenza B, and SARS-CoV-2 surveillance by (real-time PCR)
  • Novel flu detection of H7 and H5
  • Respiratory virus and norovirus surveillance (real-time PCR)
  • Esoteric for viruses such as measles, mumps, rubella, varicella zoster, and enterovirus D68 (real-time PCR)
  • Arbovirus diseases, including West Nile, Zika, dengue, chikungunya, eastern equine encephalitis (real-time PCR and ELISA), and Oropouche
  • Rabies in animal brain tissue (DFA)
  • Tick-borne diseases, including rocky mountain spotted fever and ehrlichia

Mycobacteriology (Clinical Specimens or Isolates)

  • AFB Smear and Culture (Monday – Friday)
  • Nucleic acid amplification for TB (real-time PCR), respiratory specimens,  (Monday – Friday)
  • AFB culture for identification (referred isolate)
  • TB drug susceptibility (referred isolate – performed on M. tuberculosis complex isolates only)

Mycology

  • Candida auris Identification

Serology

  • Gonorrhea
  • Chlamydia
  • Hepatitis A, B, and C
  • Syphilis
  • Rubella Pregnancy Screening
  • Trichomonas vaginalis
  • Mycoplasma genitalium
  • QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus

Retrovirology

  • HIV screening tests
  • HIV patient management testing
  • HIV viral load testing
  • HIV genotyping

Environmental Microbiology

  • Well water
  • Non-potable water
  • Food borne outbreak testing

Clinical Microbiology

  • Bacteriology testing
  • Parasitology testing

Molecular

  • Sequences microbial organisms, generating data for state and federal genomic surveillance and epidemiology programs, along with developing clinical sequencing assays used to detect drug resistance mutations in HIV and tuberculosis

Newborn Screening

  • Testing for over 30 core conditions and over 20 secondary conditions for all newborns in the state of Florida

Chemical Threats

  • One of 10 Level 1 CT laboratories in the nation
  • Capability to perform testing on human specimens for chemical terrorism agents
  • Provide training to providers

Biological Threats

  •  Able to identify anthrax, smallpox, and other agents and work with the FBI in the event of bioterrorism
  • Clinical BT sample testing
  • Environmental BT sample testing

Environmental Laboratory Certification

  • Certifies laboratories across the country to use chemical and biological techniques in testing a wide variety of matrices, including drinking water, non-potable water, solid and chemical materials, biological tissue, and air

Bioinformatices

  • Leverages genomic epidemiology and computational resources to analyze sequencing data for result interpretation (whether for clinical decision-making or surveillance), to guide public health policy and outbreak response

Laboratory Management

Susanne Crowe, DrPH, MHA, HCLD (ABB)
Laboratory Director and CLIA Director
904-791-1550

Mary Ritchie, PhD, HCLD (ABB)
Assistant Laboratory Director
904-791-1767