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NC Research Campus Focuses on Nutrition

By Emily-Sarah Lineback, Connections

NC research center

A rendering of the UNC Nutrition Research Building provides a taste of the future for North Carolina.

Already a leader in the $30-billion-a-year biotechnology industry, North Carolina is beaming with its newest 350-acre, $1 billion addition to the biotech field projected to open in February of next year. The North Carolina Research Campus, being constructed on the site of the former Pillowtex Corporation headquarters in Kannapolis, will combine universities' and colleges' research power with the experience of private enterprise to create a biotech hub that focuses on human nutrition and wellness.

"We're thrilled to be a part of it; it's an exciting opportunity," said Dr. Deborah Kipp, chair of the Department of Nutrition. UNCG is one of the universities involved with the research campus within the biotech center; others include UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, UNC Central, NC A&T State University, NC State University, Duke University and the NC Community College System.

At the North Carolina Research Campus, the university will establish the UNCG Center for Research Excellence in Bioactive Food Components. Seizing the expertise within the Department of Nutrition, innovative research programs will be focused in areas related to the role of bioactive components of foods, such as fruits and vegetables, in preventing and treating obesity and chronic diseases. For example, certain components of food, such as antioxidants in blueberries, are singled out in research and results may show if specific benefits exist for humans.

"What [UNCG] will do is to provide a focus that is complementary to Chapel Hill and State and build on our department's strengths," said Kipp. "We have a unique niche."

"We've positioned ourselves so we can easily see connections with NC State--altering components of berries, fruit--and the Chapel Hill component--doing clinical studies--and work with the other participating institutions as all of our programs develop," said Kipp. "We see this as an opportunity to work with all of them in a high-tech, innovative, collaborative environment with state-of-the-art equipment."

Functioning as a satellite center of the Department of Nutrition, two UNCG senior research professors/research scientists will be hired and their research assistants and staff will utilize 5100 square feet of lab and office space on the fourth floor of the UNC Nutrition Research Building. "One of the two scientists would oversee the operations of the center and interact with other directors on that campus," Kipp noted. "We'll also make a major effort to integrate [the Kannapolis] research with our department," Kipp added.

The UNCG Center for Research Excellence in Bioactive Food Components has received $600,000 in state funds this fiscal year; next year it expects to receive $1.8 million, the bulk of which will go toward equipment and other start-up costs.

Supported by David H. Murdock, owner and chairman of Dole Food Company, plans for the North Carolina Research Campus also include an initial 311,000 square foot building to house the core laboratory, a state-of-the-art contract manufacturing biogenic facility and tenants. There will be one million square feet of office and laboratory space, 350,000 square feet of new retail and commercial space and approximately 700 new residential units. Also located on campus will be a new hotel and wellness center, 1000-seat auditorium and city government center. And a girls' school will be built for junior and senior high school students from across the country who excel in math and science. "With Mr. Murdock's passion for health and nutrition, compatibility with North Carolina agri-business and natural partnerships with top-notch universities, [the biotechnology concept]...continues to yield more and more potential," Lynne Scott Safrit, Castle & Cooke president and project manager, has said.

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