It was once considered a world-class reference laboratory, with dozens of top-notch scientists who watched for coming infections and anticipated new disease threats by designing diagnostic tests to detect them.

Samples may be sent to a reference laboratory for analysis.

Nuclear test analysis, on the other hand, focuses on the field or reference laboratory analysis of samples from air sampling, contaminated sites, etc.

The tests are specialised, so samples are usually sent to a central reference laboratory in each region or country.

The system has 4 hospitals, over 80 medical practices, and 25 reference laboratories.