As CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) marks its 40th year of protecting Australia, its experts say that with infectious diseases threats increasing, its role has never been more important.
Located in Geelong, Victoria, ACDP is operated by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, and is a high biocontainment facility designed to safely allow research into the most dangerous pathogens. As Australia's national reference laboratory, ACDP is a critical piece of Australian infrastructure and plays a key role in its defence against animal and zoonotic infectious disease threats.
ACDP Director Dr Debbie Eagles said with disease threats such as H5 avian influenza, dengue and lumpy skin disease at Australia's doorstep, ACDP researchers are at the frontline of Australian biosecurity.
"Emerging infectious diseases are increasing in frequency and complexity, driven by factors like climate change, global trade, and interactions between wildlife, livestock and people," Dr Eagles said.
"For 40 years, the dedicated people at this facility have helped Australia respond to outbreaks, develop vaccines and diagnostics, and build resilience in our animal health systems. That work continues today, with new technologies and international collaborations helping us prepare the country for the next biggest threat."
Opening in 1985 as the first high containment facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere, ACDP was designed to operate for 100 years.
Its advanced engineering and box-in-a-box design was so far ahead of its time that its labs still exceed the highest biocontainment requirements.
An expert team of CSIRO staff is on-call at ACDP 24/7, conducting 50,000 tests a year on behalf of state and territory governments for emergency disease confirmation or exclusion and identification.
"Before ACDP opened, most samples that needed to be tested for exotic animal diseases had to be sent overseas for analysis – a slow process that meant Australia didn't have control over its own trade information," ACDP Deputy Director Dr Dwane O'Brien said.
"Now ACDP helps diagnose exotic diseases in a short time, and our teams run genetic analysis that helps authorities quickly identify and control animal disease outbreaks.
"This helps reduce the spread and impact of diseases and provides continuing evidence of freedom from diseases which enables ongoing international trade," Dr O'Brien said.
ACDP's contributions span decades of disease response and innovation. The facility was instrumental in identifying the deadly Hendra virus and supporting the development of the Equivac HeV vaccine for horses. It also played a key role in the global response to SARS, Nipah virus and Ebola.
More recently, ACDP supported Australia's COVID-19 response, working to understand the virus and to test vaccine candidates. Its scientists also helped detect and respond to multi-state H7 bird flu outbreaks in 2024 and 2025, a multi-state outbreak of Japanese encephalitis virus, and just last month published the discovery of the new Salt Gully virus, a relative of Hendra, in Australian flying foxes.
Through ACDP, CSIRO also provides technical advice and training to veterinarians and government personnel across Australia and the Indo-Pacific region, helping frontline workers detect and manage emergency animal diseases, and strengthen regional surveillance efforts.
Dr Eagles said the facility's One Health approach — recognising the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health — is central to its mission.
"At ACDP, we're not just responding to outbreaks — we're working to understand the pathogens behind them, how they spread and how we can stop them," she said.
ACDP is a designated World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Reference Laboratory for avian influenza and other high-consequence diseases, and holds three Reference Centre designations with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
Learn more about ACDP and its work.
About ACDP and its unique design
- ACDP is the largest facility with Physical Containment Levels 3 and 4 in Australia.
- ACDP is a complicated structure. Developing and installing the sophisticated engineering systems to meet all the microbiological security requirements was a massive undertaking – and all of it was done without today's engineering tools and software.
- A guiding principle in its design was that biocontainment should never rely on a single barrier; instead, it relies on several overlapping physical and process barriers.
- ACDP has a 'box-in-a-box' design. Its main building has five levels, four of them inside a microbiologically secure barrier. A 30cm thick concrete wall forms an airtight 'box' around the secure area. Within the secure box are a series of smaller secure boxes, each with a drop in air pressure.
- All of the secure area is held at a lower air pressure than the outside world, and controlled so that air will always flow inwards – preventing leakage out.
- ACDP's initial construction required: more than 600 concrete piles, 42,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete, 2,300 pre-cast concrete wall panels 520 air-lock doors, 62 air-handling systems and 1000 high-efficiency air filters.
