NCSU names University of Illinois scientist to lead N.C. Research Campus effort

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State’s efforts to staff its new center at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis are starting to bear fruit.

May Ann Lila, a professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, will lead the NCSU center, the university said Monday.

The NCSU Center will be called the N.C. State Fruit and Vegetable Science Institute. The focus of the center is to develop fruits and vegetables that enhance human health. According to NCSU, researchers will seek to develop and devise means to produce what it calls “bioactive compounds” that prevent and treat disease.

NCSU plans to create 60 jobs, including 12 faculty positions, for the institute. It will be located in the Dole Nutrition Institute, a 100,000-square-foot building scheduled to open this fall. Plant breeders, geneticists, phytochemists, experts in genomics and metabolomics as well as a molecular biologist and a plant biochemist are being recruited.

Lila directs the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences' international program. She will assume her NCSU duties on Aug. 1.

Research into fruits and vegetables is a major focus of the NCRC, which is being built by billionaire David Murdock. Murdock owns Dole Food and Castle & Cooke, the firm that is developing the 315-acre campus.

NCSU is a partner with Murdock in the NCRC, as are Duke, the University of North Carolina system, the North Carolina Community College system and other public and private partners.

“Dr. Lila's 24 years of research experience with plant chemistry and animal nutritional studies will help ensure that N.C. State and the North Carolina Research Campus succeed in improving the human condition through better nutrition,” said Steve Lommel, interim dean for research in NCSU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He oversees NCSU’s efforts for the NCRC.

Lila has focused on the study of biologically active properties in plants, particularly fruits.

“We’ll be looking at plants from a whole different perspective,” Lila said in a statement. The institute will “produce fruits and vegetables that have properties beyond what we have normally bred plants for,” she added.

Lila currently is involved in research efforts in Egypt, Central Asia, Oceania, Mexico, and sub-Saharan Africa. She has won numerous awards and is currently vice president of the Global Institute for BioExploration.