A&T Joins NIH-Funded Partnership to Train Next Generation of Translational Scientists

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 21, 2026) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is partnering with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University on a new National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded initiative designed to prepare the next generation of scientists to move drug delivery innovations from concept to clinic to commercialization (C³). 

The C³ Drug Delivery Predoctoral Training Program brings together complementary expertise from three of North Carolina’s leading public research universities to provide Ph.D. students with interdisciplinary training spanning scientific discovery, clinical translation and commercialization. 

The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy received NIH funding to launch the cross-institutional Institutional National Research Service Award (T32) program, which will support 25 Ph.D. students over five years. As a partner, N.C. A&T brings its growing expertise in bioengineering and interdisciplinary research to the collaboration. 

“This collaboration is particularly timely as N.C. A&T launches the nation’s first bioengineering Ph.D. program at a historically Black college or university and advances toward Research 1 status, creating exceptional opportunities for doctoral students to engage in interdisciplinary research and translate biomedical innovations from discovery to clinical and commercial applications,” said Yeoheung Yun, Ph.D., professor of bioengineering at A&T and a co-director of the program. 

The C³ program will provide interdisciplinary training in drug delivery, translational science, new approach methodologies, biomanufacturing, clinical research, entrepreneurship and commercialization. Trainees will gain experience across the full translational pathway, from identifying unmet clinical needs and developing therapeutically relevant solutions to understanding regulatory requirements, manufacturing, intellectual property and commercialization. 

The program is led by Juliane Nguyen, Ph.D., professor and vice chair in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Nguyen serves as program director alongside Yun and co-directors Edwin Kim, M.D., M.S., associate professor of pediatrics and medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, and Harvinder Gill, Ph.D., Ronald B. and Cynthia J. McNeill Term Professor in Nanomedicine at N.C. State. 

“The vision behind the C³ predoctoral training program is to rethink how we prepare the next generation of translational scientists,” said Nguyen. “By bringing together the complementary strengths of three outstanding public research universities, we can create a training environment that no single institution could provide on its own. We want trainees to think beyond traditional disciplinary and institutional boundaries and develop a broader understanding of how scientific discoveries can ultimately make an impact.” 

The T32 program is part of the NC TraCS Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. A&T and NC State are longstanding NC TraCS partners helping advance the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences’ vision of delivering more treatments to all people more quickly. 

For A&T doctoral students, the collaboration creates opportunities to work across institutional and disciplinary boundaries while developing the scientific, clinical and entrepreneurial knowledge needed to translate biomedical discoveries into solutions that can benefit patients. 

“The students will learn cutting-edge principles of nanomedicine and learn to apply interdisciplinary knowledge to solve challenges facing human health,” said Gill. “They will be ready to evolve into the next generation of scientific leaders.”

Beyond technical training, the C³ program is designed to build relationships among trainees and faculty across the three universities, creating a collaborative network that can continue throughout participants’ careers.