Officials with IDEXX Laboratories announced Monday that they have purchased MU’s Research and Diagnostic Laboratory for $43 million.

The Westbrook, Maine-based company, which is publicly traded on NASDAQ, provides veterinarians in multiple countries with diagnostic and information technology-based products and services.

MU’s RADIL, which was formally a business of the College of Veterinary Medicine, performs functions such as pathology, microbiology and molecular diagnostics.

Employees working with RADIL will continue as employees of IDEXX.

“The acquisition of RADIL represents a natural extension of our business strategy and aligns well with our overall corporate purpose — to create long-term value for our shareholders while enhancing the health and well-being of pets, people and livestock,” IDEXX CEO and Chairman Jonathan Ayers said in a news release.

Officials from the university said the purchase would return some much-needed funds to the university.

“I think the long-term significance (of the acquisition) is that it brings resources to the college that are very much needed in these times of limited state support,” College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Neil Olson said.

Olson said the resources contributed by IDEXX would be used for such purposes as being placed in an endowment to provide permanent funding for the department and allow them to deal with issues related to the purchase and replacement of high technology equipment.

“(The resources) will allow us to deal with some issues that we haven’t been able to deal with over the past decade because of state funding cuts,” Olson said.

Olson said the RADIL would continue to function normally when IDEXX opens operations today.

CVM faculty member Joe Wagner founded the laboratory in 1968 and, according to a statement by Olson on CVM’s website, it “has grown to become one of the two largest entities providing research diagnostic services over the past four decades.”

“IDEXX is an excellent match for collaborate programs at MU and the College of Veterinary Medicine,” he said in the statement. “I look forward to working with them in the future.”

IDEXX expects the acquisition to add approximately $12 million to its total revenues but not have a material impact on its 2011 financial results.