What’s happening around campus

 

News from some of the eight universities with a presence at the N.C. Research Campus.

 

UNC-Greensboro

The Center for Research Excellence in Bioactive Food Component

We have recently installed a liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF) and a gas chromatography-TOF mass spectrometry.

Our MS-based metabolomics platform is expected to be operational starting July 1.

— Dr. Wei Jai

Co-director

 

Duke University

MURDOCK Study

Duke Translational Medicine Inst.

 

More than 775 participants have enrolled in the MURDOCK Study, a major research study named for campus founder David Murdock that stands for Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis.

In the spirit of collaboration, a local health-care advisory board has been formed to support Duke’s work on the N.C. Research Campus.  Comprised of a select, broadly-based group of health-care thought leaders from Kannapolis and Cabarrus County, the board provides insight, expertise and guidance in support of the MURDOCK Study’s efforts in Cabarrus County and Kannapolis through quarterly meetings and periodic consultations. 

— Dr. Ashley Dunham

Community Health  Project Leader

 

N.C. State University

Plants for Human Health Institute

Program for Value-Added & Alternative Agriculture

 

The blueberry genome project has made considerable progress in the first six months since its inception. More than 150 million base pairs of DNA have been generated in small and large segments, and efforts are under way to assemble these jigsaw pieces into a complete blueprint of the blueberry genome that can be utilized by researchers around the world.

Dr. Allan Brown reports that researchers from N.C. State and the David H. Murdock Research Institute, also at the N.C. Research Campus, are working together to develop original tools and strategies to assemble these sequences and make them easier to access and utilize.

“The information we are producing here in Kannapolis will be of value to generations of researchers interested in all aspects of blueberry production, genetics and evolution. Years from now, when you buy tastier, healthier blueberries with a longer shelf life, it will be due in part to the work we’re doing here in Kannapolis,” Dr. Brown said.

 

— Leah Chester-Davis

Coordinator of Communications & Community  Outreach and Extension Communication Specialist