Nelson Labs recently announced that it has invested in expanding its operations and service capabilities at its Itasca, Ill. facility.

The investment will offer upgrades to the laboratory facilities, in addition to a 10,000 sq. ft building expansion and renovated lab space. The upgrades will include a BI sterility suite to support EO sterilization validations while also expanding the test offerings to include more than double the capacity for bioburden, radiation sterilization validations, bacterial endotoxin testing (BET) and product sterility testing for medical devices and pharmaceutical products.

Nelson Labs expects new test capabilities like medical device particulate testing, healthcare reprocessing validations, sterilization for reuse validations and genetic microbial identification testing to be available starting May 1.

The new facility is also ISO 17025 accredited and uses the same robust quality system as its headquarters in Salt Lake City.

“We are very excited about the new and expanded service offerings and laboratory upgrades that are now available at our Itasca facility,” John Bolinder, VP of North American lab operations at the company, said. “Our customers will benefit from our enhanced quality system and expanded services, as well as the unparalleled expertise and customer service they have come to trust from Nelson Labs. In addition, we are able to offer the leading sterilization services of our sister company, Sterigenics, at multiple facilities located within close proximity to our Itasca laboratory. This allows us to more fully serve the needs of our sterilization and laboratory customers throughout the Midwestern region of the U.S.”

Nelson Labs was recently acquired by Sterigenics to help build Sterigenics’ lab testing and service capabilities globally. The company was combined with Sterigenics SteriPro Labs microbiological and analytical testing and consultancy business.