The Global FMD Modeling and Surveillance Laboratory (FMD Lab) is part of the Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS), and is led by Dr. Mark Thurmond.  The FMD Lab develops models and systems for global FMD surveillance, which include the FMD BioPortal web-based system and FMD-related data from the FMD World Reference Laboratory, Pirbright, the OIE, the FAO, and other national and international sources.

Laboratory personnel include faculty, adjuncts, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and computer analysts and programmers.  Interests and expertise include mathematical, Bayesian, and epidemiological modeling, clinical and laboratory diagnostic methods for FMD, computer and geographic information systems, infectious disease epidemiology, economics, and international veterinary medicine.  The laboratory is supported in part by the state of California, through the University of California and the Agricultural Experiment Station.  Collaboration and support has been provided by livestock industries, commercial companies, national laboratories, other academic institutions, government agencies of the U.S. and other countries, and international organizations and laboratories.

• Capture and disseminate FMD and FMD-related data and information.
• Develop FMD databases.
• Develop models for real-time FMD surveillance.
• Develop diagnostic and detection systems for use in surveillance.
• Map regional and global distributions of FMD and of FMD risk.
• Develop models to predict disease movement and transmission.
• Develop spatio-temporal prediction models for molecular changes in the virus.
• Develop anomaly detection surveillance systems.
• Assess risks of FMD associated with management practices and other factors.
• Model competing strategies for biosecurity, control, and eradication.
• Utilize web portal technology to route information and models in real time.