- Forms Available to Download
Sample Collection and Transport Guidelines .
All samples must be labelled with:
- Minimum of two identifiers.
- Date of sample collection and sample source is essential.
- Samples must be sent as per NPAAC REQUIREMENTS FOR THEPACKAGING AND TRANSPORT OF PATHOLOGY SPECIMENS AND ASSOCIATED MATERIALS (Fourth Edition 2013)
Download FM2664 (MDU Sample Transport Guidelines)
Request Forms
All request forms sent electronically must comply with the Privacy Act 1988, Health Records Act (Victoria) 2001 and the Information Privacy Act (Victoria) .
FM Number Request Form Name FM108 VHPSS Request Form Download FM110 Human NEPSS Request Form Download FM111 Non-Human NEPSS Request Form Download FM116 HS Public Health Investigations Specimens Download FM117 WT Water Samples Download FM118 FD Food, Food Ingredient and Packaging Specimens Download FM119 HC Human Clinical Download FM123 General Specimens Request Form Download FM377 MDU PHL CBR Chain of Custody Form Download FM935 MDU Internal Chain of Custody Form Download FM979 MDU PHL General Chain of Custody Form Download FM1045 Legionella Chain of Custody Form Download FM1062 NS Neisseria cultures Request Form Download FM1541 Food and Water Chain of Custody Form Download FM1698 Request Form - Cryptosporidium typing Download FM1716 VIFM Request and Chain of Custody Form Download FM1718 Sealed Primary Container Description form Download FM1856 Food Act s23 Form Download FM1885 EV Environmental Samples, Swabs and Equipment Download FM2085 L monocytogenes Molecular Subtyping Download FM2159 VPFS Request and Chain of Custody Form Download FM2458 Carbapenemase detection, Human isolates Request Form Download FM2609 Enviromental Surveillance Sampling for CT and NG rRNA Download FM2634 Request Form – WGS Download FM2634 WGS-electronic download 2-COVID Download FM2652 VRE Snapshot Study 2018 Download FM2673 DNA Bacterial Isolates for sequencing Download FM2680 Pathology Request Form Download FM2699 Carbapenemase detection Environmental samples Request Form Download FM2713 Superbugs Project Request Form Download FM2728 Traveller's Diarrhoea Metagenomics Study PR2017-004 Download FM2739 Research samples Request Form Download FM2753 Multiple Human Clinical Isolates Request Form Download FM2784 iGas_Eastern Study Request Form Download FM2787 Phylogeny and Analysis of Whole Genome Sequence data Download FM2794 CDGNA Interjurisdictional AMR Genomic Surveillance Poject Download FM2810 Pathology Request_Mgen Download
Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory
The role of the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL) is to collaborate with health professionals to provide vital analytic services and technical advice in public health microbiology to inform public health policy and practice. Serving the community since 1897, the MDU PHL is the longest continuously serving public health laboratory in Australia with its primary responsibility to elicit any public health implications from microorganisms such as bacteria from humans, animals, food, water and the environment. The MDU PHL is also home to Doherty Applied Microbial Genomics, which has been recently launched to facilitate research relevant to understanding the role of microbial genomics in public health and clinical microbiology practice in Australia and to provide leadership and training in this field. MDU PHL is also the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Reference Laboratory for Invasive Bacterial-Vaccine Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD).
Disclaimer: Please note that this site is still under development.
Our Location & Contact Details
- Address
- Level 1, Peter Doherty Institute (Bldg 248)
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC 3010 - mdu-general@unimelb.edu.au
- Phone
- +61 3 8344 5701
- Opening Hours
- Weekdays: 8.45am until 5pm
Our History
We work closely with the Victorian Health Department, local government authorities, diagnostic laboratories, industry bodies and others to protect public health.
As Melbourne grew quickly into a large city by world standards in the 1880s, all manner of waste was dumped into open street channels, which ran into the Yarra River and Hobsons Bay, causing epidemics of fatal typhoid and diphtheria and polluting waterways.
In 1890 a Royal Commission into the sanitary condition of Melbourne identified a need for a specialist laboratory in Victoria to carry out bacteriological examinations, along with its recommendation for a sewage farm that led to the development of the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee. The Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (formerly also known as Public Health Laboratory and Bacteriology Laboratory) was established in 1897, the same year that the first Melbourne homes were connected to the sewerage system.
We are the longest continuously serving public health laboratory in Australia.
- Our Laboratories
- NATA Accreditation
We are accredited with NATA for Biological, Veterinary (to ISO 17025), Medical Testing (to ISO 15189) and to the Forensic Operations Module. To view click here.
Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory seeks your feedback as part of our ongoing commitment to quality and continuous improvement.
We encourage you to actively help us improve the delivery of our services to all our customers by submitting a message in the below form.