 chapter summary technological advances and increased interconnectivity among laboratory partners are helping generate data to detect and respond to outbreaks more quickly and more effectively in chapter 6 laboratory best practices we expand on the basic concepts presented in previous chapters to highlight the roles and contributions of laboratory partners this chapter further develops concepts explanations and processes while adding examples and emphasizing best practices this chapter begins with an overview of the various types of laboratories and their roles public health laboratories are well positioned for the early recognition of sentinel cases those involving unusual pathogens or resistance patterns or clusters of related illness many aspects of healthcare outbreak response benefit from active collaboration and coordination between public health laboratories and other types of laboratories public health agencies and healthcare partners the chapter continues with descriptions of laboratory functions that support outbreak response and the importance of reliable and clearly communicated data specific to laboratorians we also address safety practices to be followed when working with ar pathogens and the validation of ar and hai test methods 