LARAMIE - The University of Wyoming is constructing an addition to its Veterinary Laboratory that will enable more study of diseases that affect livestock and wildlife.

A groundbreaking ceremony is planned Tuesday for the $25 million project. College of Agriculture spokeswoman Anne Leonard says the work is expected to take about two years.

Leonard says the federal government has enacted more stringent standards for the facilities in which livestock diseases can be studied. The idea is to prevent terrorists from harming the U.S. livestock industry by deliberately spreading diseases.

The lab will focus on diseases such as plague, rabbit fever and brucellosis - a disease that occurs in Wyoming elk and sometimes spreads to cattle.