on the move Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.
Economic potential in peanut research draws new funding
D
r. Mohamed Ahmedna’s research to develop allergen-free peanuts has received another resounding show of support: a $234,000 grant from the University of North Carolina system. The funding source is an allocation from the N.C. General Assembly for university-based research with potential for creating jobs in areas where science and technology have clear connections to the state’s economic future. “Dr. Ahmedna’s research work is once again drawing funding and publicity for the Agricultural Research Program,” says Dr. Carolyn Turner, the SAES’s associate dean for research. “This grant has an added significance, coming when public concern for stimulating the economy is omnipresent. When a grant is awarded for research with economic potential, it’s news that everyone wants to hear.” Ahmedna’s research team will include Dr. Ipek Goktepe, another SAES food scientist, and Dr. Jianmei Yu, an SAES research associate. The team will also include medical researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who will be administering peanut extracts to consenting human subjects with peanut allergies once the allergens have been inactivated through a proprietary biochemical process in labs at A&T. The SAES food science team will have the ball in its court again following data col-
lection at Chapel Hill. Sensory testing to determine consumer response to hypoallergenic or possibly allergen-free peanuts will be the project’s finale.
Dr. Ahmedna
“Hypoallergenic peanut products can benefit the peanut industry in North Carolina through value-added product development and enhanced public safety,” says Ahmedna. Peanut allergies are the most severe of all food allergies; more than half of all fatal food reactions reported in the United States from 2001-2006 were reactions to peanuts or products derived from them. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network points to peanut allergies as the cause of almost 100 deaths and 15,000 trips to emergency rooms each year.
Although the reasons behind the trend are unclear, peanut allergies have been increasing rapidly among children. One study found that between 1997 and 2002, peanut allergies among children doubled. Ahmedna’s research into a process for inactivating peanut allergens led to a patent that put national and international spotlights on his work (and the A&T Agricultural Research Program) when it was announced in the summer of 2007. The major U.S. television networks grabbed the story and local affiliates from coast to coast included footage of Ahmedna in his Carver Hall laboratory in their newscasts. Newspaper coverage was even more extensive, with articles on the breakthrough appearing in major dailies around the world in addition to across the U.S. His work has continued to be a subject of interest everywhere from corners of the blogosphere focused on food allergy issues to medical advisory boards influencing public policy decisions in the U.S. and other countries. “Ahmedna’s work has the potential to add value to a crop that is already economically important in North Carolina,” says Turner. “The state ranked fifth in the nation in peanut production last year, and most of our peanuts are raised in the northeastern and southeastern corners of the state where local economies were in trouble even before the recent downturns.”
North Carolina A&T State University School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Newsletter
December 2008 • Vol. VII, No. 6
Dr. Mac’s Moment Read any headline, listen to any newscast and you will conclude that the economic news isn’t good. Major, credible entities are all suffering and looking at ways to restructure. Many of them are turning to the public sector for help. This is not only a national problem but a global one. More specifically, it is one that is directly affecting North Carolina’s economic climate as well. Just how these issues will affect funding for the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences is uncertain. What we do know is that during this period of economic recession we must continue to be good stewards of the public and private monies we receive. Several years ago we developed a set of internal control guidelines for the SAES. Faculty, staff and students are being trained on the policies and procedures and being held accountable for making sure they adhere to those guidelines. This has always been an expectation, but having it written and providing training and retraining helps us assure that our people are in compliance. We will also assure you that we will do as promised with funds entrusted to us. We have a mandate to take the resources of the University to all parts of the state and we will continue to do that, primarily through our Cooperative Extension Program. We will continue to seek answers to the problems that perplex our citizens and we will strive to increase our student retention and graduation rates, thus supplying intellectual capital to help solve current social and economic problems. These are hard times, but they are times when the strongest can showcase their strengths. —D r. Donald McDowell Interim Dean, SAES
on the move Beyond the campus: SAES expansion takes three giant steps A dedication ceremony in Kannapolis, a ribbon-cutting in Greensboro and a press conference in Chapel Hill — all in a 16-day period — have put the finishing touches on one of the most remarkable growth spurts in the history of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. “The SAES suddenly has two distinctive new presences off campus, and a third off-campus presence geared up for unprecedented expansion,” says Dr. Donald McDowell, interim dean. Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Handling ready for research On Oct. 20, a large crowd that included business leaders, top administrators from A&T and seven other major universities in North Carolina, gathered in Kannapolis for the dedication ceremony for three buildings at the North Carolina Research Campus: the David H. Murdock Core Laboratory Building, the UNC Nutrition Research Building and the N.C. State Fruit and Vegetable Science Institute Building. The SAES’s Center of Excellence for Post-Harvest Technologies, now fully equipped and staffed, is housed in the latter. The N.C. Research Campus dedication ceremonies also drew large contingents from the faculties and staffs at the universities that are now full partners in the $1.5 billion undertaking. After the dedication, the SAES contingent (a busload) got a tour of the Center of Excellence for Post-Harvest Technologies that is the SAES’s share of the N.C. Research Campus. “The Center’s focus will be on development of new food products from both traditional agricultural staples and unconventional crops that have health benefits — for countering cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and other chronic conditions — as well as nutritional advantages,” says Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna, interim co-director for the Center, along with another SAES food scientist, Dr. C. W. Seo. A second over-arching research goal, according to Ahmedna, will be investigations of new methods for detecting and eliminating pathogens before foods reach consumers as the carriers of foodborne illnesses. A third will be cost-efficient processing and packaging technologies that preserve food quality and prevent spoilage. The Center’s staff also now includes its first two full-time research scientists, Drs. Leonard Williams and Melvin Pascall. Williams, who earned his bachelor’s in biology and master’s in animal health science from A&T, received his Ph.D. from Alabama A&M University, where he has served on the faculty
since 2000. He brings considerable expertise in microbiology and immunochemistry to the Center. Pascall has served most recently on the faculty at Ohio State, and is an expert in food packaging, sanitation and regulations. He earned his Ph.D at Michigan State. Williams and Pascall’s research work will be especially important in light of increasing foodborne illness outbreaks that result from an increasingly industrialized and globalized food supply. Dr. Carolyn Turner, the SAES associate dean for research, anticipates that the movement of discoveries from lab bench to
commercialized products and processes will be faster than most people are accustomed to seeing, due to the “synergy by design” of the campus — where the best minds, scientific equipment and facilities are being concentrated for the purpose of harnessing nutrition for human health. First tenant moves into Gateway University Research Park On Oct. 30 there was a ribbon-cutting and open house at the Gateway University Research Park. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has become the first occupant to make a permanent home
for itself on the Gateway Center’s south campus — a 75-acre parcel that was formerly part of the University Farm. The NRCS has relocated 100 scientists and technical support specialists to the $13 million building in east Greensboro to staff its East National Technology Support Center and East Remote Sensing Lab. The National Technology Support Center will serve farmers and landowners in 23 states east of the Mississippi River; assisting them in preventive planning and remediation for erosion control, animal waste management and other facets of agriculture and natural resource management that must contain a blend of conservation and environmental stewardship. The Remote Sensing Lab is a major linchpin in documenting changes in land use and the nation’s natural resource inventory through aerial surveys and digital mapping.
The new facility has state-of-the art offices, labs and workspace for NRCS employees and subcontractors. But it also has considerable room for expansion in a noteworthy direction. From the moment A&T was selected over dozens of other locations vying to host one of the three NRCS regional technology centers that would consolidate what had been a network with six regional hubs, it’s been frequently mentioned that one of the major beneficiaries of the NRCS presence in Greensboro would be the SAES. Some of the specifics cited were opportunities for SAES student and faculty interaction with NRCS scientists in research and academics.
Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.
Dr. Donald McDowell, interim SAES dean, has some Internet advice for SAES faculty, staff and corporate partners who still have their ideas for collaborations with the NRCS filed under “long range” or “way on down the road.” “SAES stakeholders who don’t have opportunities for collaborations with our new NRCS neighbors on East Lee on their do-lists should google up ‘ground breaking for gateway university research center.’ The first hit is a news release dated May 16, 2007. That means a $13 million dollar building with approximately 20,000 square feet has gone from ground-breaking to openfor-business in 17 months. The NRCS and John Merrill [executive director for Gateway University Research Park] are to be congratulated on how quickly this project has moved along. And the rest of us need to
Dole Foods owner David Murdock welcomed guests to dedication ceremonies at the N.C. Research Campus on Oct. 21. Murdock has donated $250 million dollars of his own money to the $1.5 billion campus, which now includes the SAES’s Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies.
take heed. Potential that was on the drawing board a year-and-a-half ago now has a mailing address: 2901 East Lee Street.” Kellogg Foundation grant headed to Goldsboro as well as Carver On Nov. 4, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced a grant of $3.15 million to N.C. A&T and N.C. State universities and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) that merited a press conference and remarks from UNC System President Erskine Bowles, the chancellors of both universities — Dr. Stanley Battle of N.C. A&T and Dr. James Oblinger of N.C. State
faculty & staff notes — as well as the chair of the CEFS Board of Advisors, Simon Rich, and Ricardo Salvador, a program director for the Kellogg Foundation. Much of the Kellogg grant will be channeled to the CEFS, a 2,000-acre research and Extension facility near Goldsboro operated jointly by A&T, N.C. State and the N. C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. With a focus on sustainable agriculture, the CEFS was ahead of the curve when it was established in 1994, and the head start it had on public concern for environmentally friendly agriculture and the local foods movement has positioned the CEFS as a national leader in research and educational outreaches in those areas. Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, associate dean and administrator for The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T, says that, “The CEFS has made A&T Extension and research integral partners. SAES horticultural scientists and Extension specialists have taken advantage of CEFS resources for research and demonstrations, and one of the six research units at CEFS is a Small Farm Center, in support of the SAES’s commitment to small-scale agriculture. What has been good for CEFS has been good for the SAES, so a generous Kellogg grant to enhance CEFS programs and resources is something more than good news for the SAES. It’s good news about the SAES.” The recently announced Kellogg grant was a stimulus to the universities to establish endowed chairs in both the SAES and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State. Dr. John O’Sullivan, currently Extension Farm Management and Marketing Specialist, has been named to the SAES’s Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems. Of immediate plans for the new role, O’Sullivan says, “We are looking to build a partnership focused at the CEFS that will give faculty and students better access to resources. I also hope to build some new undergraduate courses and programs that take contemporary and diverse approaches to agriculture, and bring the SAES into a network of institutions, including Iowa State, Michigan State, Ohio State and the University of California at Davis, which also have Kellogg-endowed chairs in sustainable agriculture.”
Two new faculty members have joined the SAES’s Department of Animal Sciences: • Dr. Jenora Waterman comes to the SAES from the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State, where she completed post-doctoral training in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences. She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bennett College, a master’s in biology from A&T, and a doctorate in functional genomics from N.C. State. Her research focus has been on elucidating the extent of environmental and genomic influences on the pathophysiology of respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Dr. Waterman plans on applying comparative genomics, reverse and conventional translational medicine approaches to develop models of respiratory diseases affecting laboratory and farm animals and humans. • Dr. Radiah A. Minor, an assistant professor of immunology, received her bachelor’s in biology from Florida A&M University, and her Ph.D. from Meharry Medical College, where her research was focused on the differentiation of helper T cells. Before joining the SAES, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Respiratory Biology at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, where her research was focused on the immune response to a respiratory virus. Her research plans are to use mouse models to study the immune responses to pathogens that infect large animals and humans. Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, administrator and associate dean for The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T, has assumed responsibilities as chair-elect for the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP), and following a year in that position, in the fall of 2009 he will pick up the gavel and chair the executive committee. A key committee within the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges (NASULGC), ECOP is a major voice for the 57 state and territorial Cooperative Extension systems, and maintains a tight working relationship with USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.
on the move
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North Carolina A&T State University School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Newsletter Produced by the Agricultural Communications and Technology Unit
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Dr. Stanley F. Battle, Chancellor Dr. Donald McDowell, Interim Dean, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, Associate Dean, Administrator, The Cooperative Extension Program Dr. Carolyn Turner, Associate Dean, Agricultural Research Willie T. Ellis Jr., Associate Dean, Administration North Carolina A&T State University is a land-grant high research activity institution and AA/EEO employer. Send change of address and correspondence to: on the move Newsletter Editor Agricultural Research Program CH Moore Agricultural Research Station Greensboro, NC 27411
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on the move/flip side The contributions that SAES rural sociologists, housing specialists, ag. economists, bioengineers and animal scientists are making to rural recovery are detailed in the 2009 issue of the Agricultural Research Program’s (ARP) annual magazine, Re:search. Copies are available at the ARP administrative offices at the C. H. Moore Agricultural Research station (336.334.7612 or http://www.ag.ncat.edu/faculty_ staff.htm#research). A visit to the online edition (http://www. ag.ncat.edu/research/re_search_ magazine.html) has news even for those who already have a print edition. The online edition includes video interviews in addition to text and photos.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR Jan. 15 2009 Deadline for 1890 Scholars Program application (http://www. ag.ncat.edu/1890_scholarshipsindex.html) Feb. 15 2009 Deadline for Research Apprentice Program application (http://www.ag.ncat.edu/summer/rap/RAP-APPLICATION_2009. pdf) March 22 – 29 Small Farms Week 2009 (http:// www.ag.ncat.edu/sfw09/index. html)
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