UNC-Chapel Hill to play key role in Kannapolis revitalization effort

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has announced a proposed nutrition research center that will be part of the newly announced NC Research Campus in Kannapolis.

"We have an opportunity to reach out to a region of the state particularly hard-hit by global competition for manufacturing and agriculture," said Chancellor James Moeser. "We want to leverage our considerable research strengths in obesity, nutrition and disease prevention, creating jobs and improving the lives of all North Carolinians. Ultimately, we hope to involve faculty and departments from across campus to make this another example of how our interdisciplinary approach to problems can pay dividends for the state's citizens."

Research to be conducted there will involve Carolina’s department of nutrition, which is jointly housed in the university’s schools of public health and medicine, and will focus primarily on three aspects of nutrition: nutrition and the brain; obesity; and nutrition and cancer.

"We are excited about the possibility of creating an internationally recognized research institute that would contribute significantly to our understanding of how the foods we eat affect our overall health and longevity," said Dr. Steven H. Zeisel, associate dean for research in the School of Public Health and director of the UNC Clinical Nutrition Research Center. "The location will allow us to collaborate with other partners who will locate research facilities here, including N.C. State University and the Dole Food Co., to translate our research findings into practice."