UNC Research Stories

Endeavors engages its readers in the intellectual life of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by conveying the excitement of creativity, discovery, and the rigors and risks of the quest for new knowledge.

Posts by UNC Research Stories:

Penny Gordon-Larsen

August 8, 2018

Penny Gordon-Larsen is a professor and associate chair for research in the Department of Nutrition within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is also a fellow within the Carolina Population Center and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies. Her research integrates biology, behavior, and environment to understand, prevent, and treat obesity and its associated cardiometabolic diseases.

Esther Kwon

August 1, 2018

Rising senior Esther Kwon is an undergraduate researcher and recent SURF recipient within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences majoring in biology, with a minor in chemistry. Her research focuses on two different types of histones — proteins found in chromatin — and how they function within fruit flies.

Cathi Propper

July 25, 2018

Cathi Propper is senior scientist within and interim director of the UNC Center for Developmental Science. Her research focuses on the physiological functioning, temperament, and genetics of infants and how their early experiences influence their social-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development.

Tori Ehrhardt

July 18, 2018

Tori Ehrhardt is a rising senior in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, double-majoring in psychology and biology. She is also an undergraduate researcher in the Department of Psychiatry within the UNC School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the use of probiotics in pregnancy and their effects on the microbiome.

Cheryl Giscombe

July 11, 2018

Cheryl Giscombe is the Melissa and Harry LeVine Family Professor of Quality of Life, Health Promotion, and Wellness within the UNC School of Nursing and a Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar. Her research focuses on developing ways to resolve stress and its effects on health behaviors, physiology, and health outcomes.

Savannah Swinea

July 4, 2018

Rising senior Savannah Swinea is an undergraduate researcher within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences majoring in environmental science, with a minor in marine science. Her research focuses on the effects of streambed clogging on water exchange, which she studies in the UNC fluids lab via a racetrack flume.

Fighting Emerging Diseases at UNC

June 28, 2018

Imagine a drug that could cure everything from Ebola to the common cold. Utilizing the expertise of the Baric Lab at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Gilead Sciences is making breakthroughs in developing drugs to fight some of the world's deadliest viruses.

Min Zheng

June 27, 2018

Min Zheng is a research associate in the Department of Ophthalmology within the UNC School of Medicine. Her research focuses on using nanotechnologies in gene and drug delivery for treating ocular disorders.

Rachel Noble

June 20, 2018

Rachel Noble is the Mary and Watts Hill Jr. Distinguished Professor at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences. She is also a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences and director of the Institute for the Environment’s Morehead City field site. Her research focuses on understanding the abundance and ecology of dangerous bacteria and viruses that are found in the ocean and within seafood.

Cleo Samuel

June 13, 2018

Cleo Samuel is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on improving the equity and quality of supportive cancer care — such as care that optimizes comfort, function, social support, and overall quality of life — through the use of health informatics tools that address systemic barriers to care.