The Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) is a North Carolina State University research and education organization located at the

North Carolina Research Campus The North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) is a public-private research center in Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States. The Campus was envisioned by David H. Murdock, owner of Dole Food Company and Castle and Cooke, Inc., as a center for imp ...

Kannapolis Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. Th ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, United States. The institute researches food crops, like fruits and

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

, and the potential health-promoting properties they may convey when consumed. PHHI is part of the

North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is the fourth largest college in the university and one of the largest colleges of its kind in the nation, with nearly 3,400 students pursuing associate, bachelor's, m ...

, which the staffs of the institute with faculty from the departments of horticultural science; food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences; plant and microbial biology; genetics; and agricultural and resource economics. The institute has both research and

Cooperative Extension The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) was an extension agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), part of the executive branch of the federal government. The 1994 Department Reorganization Act, ...

components. Mary Ann Lila, a blueberry researcher, is director of the Plants for Human Health Institute.

History

N.C. State began operations in Kannapolis in 2007 as the Fruit and Vegetable Science Institute. The university was one of the first organization to join the biotech hub. The program's name was changed to Plants for Human Health Institute when the N.C. Research Campus was dedicated on October 20, 2008, in order "to more accurately reflect the groundbreaking research approach the institute will take. Institute research will focus on identifying and making available to consumers bioactive compounds in plants that prevent and treat disease." As of January 2020, PHHI has about 100 faculty and staff in Kannapolis, not including seasonal staff.

Research

Overview

Plants for Human Health Institute researchers study the potential health-promoting properties of fruits and

. The institute employs twelve lead researchers. The institute's mission is to discover and deliver plant-based solutions to improve human health, PHHI researchers target naturally occurring chemical compounds in plants and fresh produce, known as

phytochemicals Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections, and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes . Some phytochemicals have been used as poison ...

, some of which convey health-promoting properties when ingested. Institute director, Lila, and other PHHI researchers have done research into phytochemicals, such as

anthocyanins Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical com ...

present in blueberries and other crops, indicating they provide health benefits against

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

and other chronic human diseases when consumed. In 2013, Lila was a lead researcher in a study involving athletes ingesting blueberry and green tea-infused drinks twice daily during a two-week supplementation period and then for three days of rigorous exercise. Among the results, participants experienced a prolonged spike in their metabolism (up to 14 hours) after exercise.

Programs

Plants for Human Health Institute researchers integrate expertise in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, plant breeding,

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are ...

metabolomics Metabolomics is the scientific study of chemical processes involving metabolites, the small molecule substrates, intermediates, and products of cell metabolism. Specifically, metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprin ...

pharmacogenomics Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name ('' pharmaco-'' + ''genomics'') reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects the ...

postharvest physiology In agriculture, postharvest handling is the stage of crop production immediately following harvest, including cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing. The instant a crop is removed from the ground, or separated from its parent plant, it begins ...

and systems biology. PHHI research faculty have: * Led the team that sequenced the blueberry

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

. * Discovered evidence that plants of the family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

(like

mustard greens ''Brassica juncea'', commonly brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard, is a species of mustard plant. Cultivar ''Brassica juncea'' cultivars can be divided into four major subgroups ...

and kale) could increase muscle mass in people suffering from debilitating disease and the effects of aging. * Developed functional food ingredients from health-enhancing plant compounds for undernourished populations in Africa. * Created fruit-infused peanut flours to combat peanut allergies. * Established multiple plant breeding programs, including broccoli, cabbage and strawberry.

Greenhouse Complex

The institute operates three

greenhouses A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These s ...

. The greenhouse complex provides about 10,000 square feet of space for plant trials on crops like

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...

and strawberry, and allow the institute to rent space or collaborate on research with other campus operations and businesses. Researchers also partner with the Piedmont Research Station, a research farm located near

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, N.C., to grow and test field crops.

Kannapolis Scholars

Funded by a $1 million

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

– Agriculture & Food Research Initiative (USDA-AFRI) the Kannapolis Scholars was a program for

graduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

from multiple disciplines to participate in integrated research. Led by Jack Odle, William Neal Reynolds, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at N.C. State, the scholars examined issues in the broad domain of functional foods, bioactive food components and human health. 30 faculty members from eight universities in North Carolina, from multiple disciplines, including

food science Food science is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing the development ...

nutritional science Nutritional science (also nutrition science, sometimes short ''nutrition'', dated trophology) is the science that studies the physiological process of nutrition (primarily human nutrition), interpreting the nutrients and other substances in food ...

plant science Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

animal science Animal science is described as "studying the biology of animals that are under the control of humankind". It can also be described as the production and management of farm animals. Historically, the degree was called animal husbandry and the ...

, microbiology,

and

act as mentors to the Kannapolis Scholars.

Plant Pathways Elucidation Project (P2EP)

The Plant Pathways Elucidation Project, or P2EP, was a $1.9 million program that engaged college students across North Carolina in education and research. Operated from June 2013 to December 2019, the program was supported by a consortium of academic and industry organizations, including the Plants for Human Health Institute. The program teamed university scientists, industry leaders and college students to explore plant health benefits, prepare student scientists to pursue careers in

STEM fields Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), and create a research

knowledge base A knowledge base (KB) is a technology used to store complex structured and unstructured information used by a computer system. The initial use of the term was in connection with expert systems, which were the first knowledge-based systems. ...

Extension

The N.C. State Extension houses a multidisciplinary team at the N.C. Research Campus as part of the Plants for Human Health Institute. The team is an education and outreach component of PHHI directed towards STEM Education and Translational Nutrition.

History

Blake Brown, Hugh C. Kiger Professor in agricultural economics at N.C. State, started the Program for Value-Added and Alternative Agriculture in 2006 with support from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The program was originally created to assist the transition of tobacco-farm families to other profitable enterprises after the Tobacco Buyout in 2005. As the part of N.C. State's development of the N.C. Research Campus, the program relocated to Kannapolis in 2008 as an on-site Cooperative Extension complement to the research personnel and programs with the institute. The program operated under the N.C. MarketReady brand from October 2009 until July 2012. The program has since dropped the name and been fully integrated into the institute as the N.C. State Extension component.

N.C. Research Campus

The N.C. Research Campus is a public-private venture including eight universities, one community college, the David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI), and corporate entities that collaborate to advance the fields of human health,

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. It was founded by

David H. Murdock David Howard Murdock (born April 11, 1923) is an American billionaire businessman, plant-based diet advocate and philanthropist. Early career Murdock was born on April 11, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a traveling salesman; his ...

, CEO of

Dole Foods Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company, Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating wit ...

. The campus is built upon the former site of the Cannon Textile Mill in

, about 30 miles north of

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. The research campus represents an effort by the state of

to revitalize the region following the decline of the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

. It was announced in November 2013 that two new facilities were breaking ground at the Kannapolis campus, including a 50,000-square-foot data center (Data chambers) and a 100,000-square-foot municipal center (the new Kannapolis City Hall). The Plants for Human Health Institute is housed on the campus in a 105,000-square-foot facility that includes research labs, lab support areas and an Advance II 700 US - 2 Magnet

nuclear magnetic resonance Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a ...

spectroscope.

Funding

The institute has received $2.1 million in gift donations and $7.8 million in federal and private competitive grants, $1.42 million from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, $2 million from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the

, $780,000 from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

General Administration, and $1.05 million from commodity groups and other private sponsors. This funding is in addition to state appropriations. PHHI research programs have also received significant grant funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

References

External links

Plants for Human Health Institute website

North Carolina State University website

North Carolina Research Campus website

North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences website

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service website

North Carolina Agricultural Research Service website
{{authority control Botanical research institutes 2008 establishments in North Carolina Kannapolis, North Carolina High-technology business districts in the United States Economy of North Carolina Charlotte metropolitan area Science parks in the United States Organizations based in Charlotte, North Carolina North Carolina State University Life sciences industry