Univ of Wisconsin On a recent Thursday morning, Becky was hard at work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL). A few test tubes at a time, hundreds of milk samples were carefully poured, measured and prepared for testing.
Becky doesn’t wear a typical lab coat or safety glasses. Why? Because Becky is a Biomek i5 — that is, a robot.
The automated but closely supervised liquid handler helps streamline and enhance laboratory workflows. And its efficiency is among the reasons that WVDL has emerged as a national leader in the response to H5N1 avian influenza on dairy farms.
Each month, WVDL tests at least one milk sample from every dairy farm in Wisconsin. WVDL’s scientists receive, process, prepare, test and log about 5,000 milk samples per month — all to help prevent an H5N1 outbreak among Wisconsin dairy cattle. The spread of H5N1 would have a potentially significant consequence: the more the virus circulates, the greater the chance new, more dangerous strains could emerge — strains capable of causing severe illness and death across multiple species, including humans. UW–Madison experts say the risk of this is currently low.