The PREDICT project, a global pathogen surveillance program, started in the state of Sabah in 2012 as a collaboration between Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Conservation Medicine (CM) and EcoHealth Alliance (EHA). Sabah Wildlife Department’s – Wildlife Health, Genetic and Forensic Laboratory (WHGFL) is a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory that was built in Sabah to avoid sending thousands of samples collected through PREDICT and ongoing projects out of the state for pathogen screenings. CM designed and oversaw the building of this laboratory certified since 2013 to international standards and are part of the management committee. The lab is used to screen samples for zoonotic disease, as well as genetic and forensic research. 65 novel and 18 known viruses were detected in Sabah through the PREDICT project, providing the Malaysian government with actionable data to inform risk mitigation policies at the national and state level.