Management

CDC launches OneLab VR: A 50,000 square-foot virtual reality laboratory training environment

June 5, 2024

OneLab VR training scenarios include videos, voice-overs, and animations to assist learners with training tasks.

This image shows a group of learners engaged in a multiplayer virtual training session in OneLab VR. They are dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) as they inspect a vial of blood before placing it into a centrifuge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently launched OneLab, a safe virtual environment created for clinical and public health laboratory training.

OneLab VR is a multiplayer virtual reality (VR) environment with an expanding suite of laboratory training scenarios. Learners can take on-demand VR trainings and trainers can use the multiplayer space to deliver live trainings to their staff. Available on the CDC OneLab REACH, OneLab VR can run on any OpenXR-conformant headset and is available on OneLab REACH and the Meta Quest Store.

What’s included in OneLab VR:

12 different laboratories in a 50,000-square-foot virtual facility created for clinical and public health laboratory training.
5-10 minute training scenarios designed to quickly familiarize learners with laboratory equipment, safety, and procedures.
Over 100 pieces of custom-built laboratory equipment, including:
- Rotary microtome, tissue processor
- Darkfield microscope
- Incubators, refrigerators, and freezers
- Real-time PCR machines
- Centrifuges, microfuges
- Biosafety cabinets and fume hoods
- Chemistry analyzers
- Microbial identification systems