A&T to Use $4.5M Grant to Build Biomedical Research Infrastructure

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 18, 2024) – Biomedical researchers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will benefit from a new $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education designed to expand the university’s research and teaching capacity in the biomedical life sciences.

Andrea Gentry-Apple, D.V.M., a professor in the N.C. A&T College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences; Robert Newman, Ph.D., the Nathan F. Simms Distinguished Professor of Biology in the College of Science and Technology; and Shyam Aravamudham, Ph.D., a nanoengineering professor in the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN) and director of its Institute of Research Technologies, collaborated on the grant.

“The common denominator is biomedical research,” said Gentry-Apple, the university’s coordinator of veterinary education and clinical associate veterinarian. “This project will help each of us to expand our capacity to conduct research; train undergraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers on state-of-the-art equipment; and grow national diversity within biomedical sciences by building careers.”

The grant will also help the university in its efforts to attain Research 1, or R1, classification, the highest level of research activity according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Newman said.

“We’re currently in a Catch-22 predicament. Without equipment and facilities, it is difficult to advance our research. Without the research, it is difficult to get the equipment,” he said. “This project will help us showcase our efforts as we move toward R1 status and raise the level of research that we’re able to accomplish in-house.”

Part of the funding will be used to finish renovations and upgrades to the university vivarium. The facility is undergoing a complete redesign to make better use of its 13,000 square feet and upgrade to the latest equipment and control systems to better serve the needs of A&T’s biomedical researchers, Gentry-Apple said. That renovation began in 2023, funded by a $5.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

“The additional funding will allow us to finish this project to serve both the live animal research needs of the campus community and create opportunities with external partners,” she said.

Another portion of the funding will be used to purchase major new equipment for biomedical research. The equipment, which will include instruments for sample preparation, biomolecular and cellular imaging and analysis, will be key components of the university’s new Interdisciplinary Biomedical and Engineering Core (IBEC).

IBEC, a core lab facility designed to support advanced bioengineering and biomedical research, is housed in the Harold L. Martin Sr. Engineering Research and Innovation Complex, JSNN and in various labs across the campus.

“These are all different aspects of the same, large project,” Newman said. “For instance, the vivarium will house animals and enable various surgeries and treatments to be done, while the IBEC’s histology and imaging equipment will be used for specimen analysis. Importantly, students will be involved in all aspects of the research, from animal care to sample preparation and analysis.”

Both the IBEC and vivarium projects will serve a broad range of majors, multiple colleges and research levels, he said.

“We’ll be able to process a wider range of specimens, and different specimens, than we have been able to do in-house, up to this point. Until now, this kind of research was outsourced, which could pose delays and barriers to high-level research,” said Aravamudham, who will chair IBEC. “The renovated vivarium allows us to keep the research on campus, attract students and faculty to campus who can now do the research they want to do, and serve as a resource for the research community who, for a fee, could use the equipment.”

That also means students can be trained on these pieces of equipment, which opens job opportunities for them, he said.

“The project will open up opportunities to pursue research questions that were inaccessible prior to having the core labs,” Aravamudham said. “This grant will open up a lot of possibilities for us in biomedical research.”

The third key piece of the project will provide funding for graduate student scholarships, stipends and opportunities, not limited to – but including — agriculture, biology, engineering and animal science students.

“Funding is key to recruiting top students that are coming from around the world, at this point,” Gentry-Apple said. “A large portion of this grant will, through the graduate college, help support 24 graduate students with tuition and competitive stipends, which will also increase our Ph.D. program enrollment.”

Although the core labs are distributed across campus, the team envisions all of them as collaborative spaces.

“We are building the research infrastructure that will allow us to pursue leading-edge questions in the biomedical sciences,” Newman said. “Coming together fosters a community of research collaboration and innovation, which allows us to do more than any of us could do alone.”