Its mission was to standardize and manufacture antitoxin, which was for the treatment of communicable diseases such as diphtheria and anthrax.
[4][5][6][7] The Wadsworth Center has over 100 principal investigators and more than 1,000 staff in five locations, the Biggs Laboratory (at the Empire State Plaza), the David Axelrod Institute (on New Scotland Avenue), the Center for Medical Science, Western Avenue and, in nearby Guilderland, New York, the Griffin Laboratory.
[8][9] Scientists at the Wadsworth Center study public health issues, such as drug resistance to emerging infections, environmental exposures, and basic biological processes that contribute to human health and disease.
Additionally, as the state's public health reference laboratory, the Wadsworth Center is responsible for responding to public health threats, developing methods to detect microbes and genetic disorders, measuring and analyzing environmental chemicals, and licensing clinical and environmental laboratories.
In conjunction with the University at Albany, SUNY, the Wadsworth Center has training programs for undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral fellows.