Partners
Universities and community colleges will play a pivotal role in conducting research and generating economic development at the North Carolina Research Campus. Their work and dedication will produce discoveries that may change views around the world on health and nutrition. Universities that will have facilities on campus include the following.
Universities
- UNC Chapel Hill: Nutrition Research Institute
The Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) is part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health. The NRI will use cutting edge genomic, proteomic and metabolomic biotechnology to develop innovative approaches to understanding the role of diet and activity in normal brain development, in the prevention of cancer and in the prevention and treatment of obesity and eating disorders. Specifically, the NRI will: 1. Use genomic, proteomic and metabolomic methods to characterize humans in a manner not previously possible by identifying characteristics that predispose individuals to increased requirements for specific nutrients that are known to be associated with brain development and function, protection against cancer, and maintenance of normal body weight; 2. Conduct focused research in model systems to understand the potential mechanisms and significance of these individual differences in metabolism; and 3. Use this new understanding of human metabolic individuality to develop highly targeted solutions that will include clinical and community-based interventions with the goal of optimizing brain development and function, as well as preventing cancer, obesity, and the many consequences of obesity (e.g., diabetes). For additional information on the NRI, visit www.uncnri.org.
- UNC Charlotte: Center for Bioinformatics
The Charlotte campus will run a bioinformatics core facility, which will develop methods and tools to analyze the complex information that emerges from work at the research campus. Charlotte faculty members will collaborate with researchers at other institutions to manage and interpret data and to translate the results into practical benefits for human health. (www.bioinformatics.uncc.edu)
- Duke University: Translational Medicine Institute
The Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis Study (The M.U.R.D.O.C.K. Study
Centered in Kannapolis under the leadership of Dr. Robert Califf, The M.U.R.D.O.C.K. Study is expected to rewrite the textbook of medicine by reclassifying health and disease using genomic technologies and electronic health records. Our current understanding of disease is based on crude characterizations of clinical characteristics, radiographs and laboratory testing that has evolved over generations. To segment diseases more effectively, The M.U.R.D.O.C.K. Study will combine modern clinical research methodology, which has established statistical and operational standards, with dramatically more effective characterizations of genes, proteins and metabolites as well as imaging. Using electronic health records, this improved classification will lead to demonstrable improvements in population health by elucidating the best prevention and treatment strategies for individuals and for groups of people with similar characteristics. Using the tools assembled by the David H. Murdock Research Institute Core Lab, The M.U.R.D.O.C.K. Study will generate exquisitely detailed data on individual patients that will engage the best minds in biomedical informatics and biostatistics to detect subtleties in disease that may have profound implications for prevention and medical management. In a unique collaboration with local healthcare providers in the City of Kannapolis and greater Cabarrus and Rowan County communities, The M.U.R.D.O.C.K. Study will propose novel hypotheses and test them in clinical trials, pushing the envelope of biomedical informatics to aggregate molecular, clinical and epidemiologic data. With this deeper insight, we will lead the way in comprehensively reclassifying major diseases into subpopulations with discrete risk profiles. This reclassification will delineate new strategies to manage patients as individuals and, in the process, alter the health profile of populations. Duke University is 100 percent committed to collaborating with the local community and academic partners at the North Carolina Research Campus in this effort.
- North Carolina Central University: Metabolism Center
NCCU's Nutrition Research Program at Kannapolis will seek to complement and strengthen the metabolomics and genomics focus of the UNC partner programs that will be conducting research in the UNC Center for Excellence in Nutrition building. NCCU’s program will utilize transgenic zebrafish and rodent cancer models to assess the effects of nutritional requirements on brain development, cardiovascular disease, obesity, neurological disorders and cancer. The program will also utilize these models to investigate the potential chemopreventive action of dietary compounds or functional foods. The NCCU investigators at the NCRC will hold faculty appointments in the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute, allowing close collaboration with NCCU researchers in neuroscience, cancer biology, and cardiovascular biology. http://ariel.acc.nccu.edu/Academics/BBRI
- NC A&T State University: Center for Post Harvest Technologies
The Center of Excellence for Post Harvest Technologies (COEPHT) at the North Carolina Research Campus is a research unit of the School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro. Post harvest technologies refer to interdisciplinary “science techniques” applied to agricultural produce after harvest for protection, conservation, processing, packaging, storing, distribution, marketing and utilization to meet the food and nutritional requirements of consumers in relation to their needs. Post harvest technologies stimulate agricultural production, prevent post-harvest losses, improve nutrition and add value to the product, thereby opening new marketing opportunities and generating new jobs while stimulating growth in agribusiness and other related economic sectors. The process of developing post-harvest technologies requires an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research approach, which includes scientific knowledge and creativity, technological innovation, commercial entrepreneurship and stakeholder inputs. The primary focus of the center is to provide an infrastructure for multidisciplinary research programs focusing on post-harvest technologies for agricultural crops and to play a lead role in developing appropriate, need-based and cost-effective post-harvest technologies to address related food science, nutrition and health issues. These issues include processing and preservation, storage stability, safety and quality, composition, recovery and identification of bioactive compounds for health applications, product development, consumer research and value-added processing.
- UNC Greensboro: Center for Research Excellence in Bioactive Food Components
The UNCG center will be housed in the UNC Nutrition Research Building at the North Carolina Research Campus and is a satellite to the UNCG Department of Nutrition, School of Human Environmental Sciences on the UNCG main campus. The focus of research at this center will be cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of bioactive food components, to understand molecular targets for these dietary components and expand our fundamental understanding of their benefits to human health and wellness, healthy aging and prevention of diseases such as cancer. The specific bioactive food components to be studied will be determined based on the interests and research of center scientists and the research teams they will develop. The bioactives to be studied may include components of blueberries, raspberries and other berries (flavonoids like anthocyanins that may act as antioxidants), tomatoes (lycopene that may have anticancer properties), or red wine (resveratrol that may influence heart health). For more information, see www.uncg.edu/ntr/ncrc.
- Biotechnology Training Center (BioNetwork Program)
The North Carolina Research Campus is also attracting companies in the medical devices, diagnostics, health and nutrition and agri-bio industries. Businesses that locate at the Research Campus will find research tools, technology, talent and a high quality of life – all in one place. Leading companies that will have a presence on the campus include the followng.
Business & Industry
- Red Hat
- Dole Foods Research Group
- BioMarker
- Angiogen
- LabCorp
- NorthEast Medical Center
- Cabarrus Family Medicine
- Research Triangle Institute