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Plants for Human Health Institute

Happy Holidays from PHHI!

December 17, 2013

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The Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) wishes all of our colleagues, partners, friends and family a safe, happy holiday season! The institute made significant progress in 2013 pursuing its mission to be the leader in the discovery and delivery of innovative plant-based solutions to advance human health. Progress and success are the results of relationships and good people, and PHHI has much to show thanks to collaborative efforts and forward-thinking individuals.

Take a look at a sampling of stories and projects that generated the most traffic on our website this year. At this rate, 2014 will be even better and brighter!

PHHI’s Top 5 Most Popular Stories of 2013:

  1. N.C. State Researchers Create Fruit, Vegetable-infused Ingredients for U.S. Army Rations
    • Dr. Mary Ann Lila’s lab are working with the U.S. Army to infuse protein powders and flours, the kinds found at health and nutrition stores, with health-promoting compounds from kale greens and muscadine grapes.
  2. Students Learn Research Principles While Raising Winter Tomatoes
    • Students at four high schools in Rowan County are immersed in a learning experience that takes them beyond their textbooks. Instead of reading about scientific test trials on agricultural crops, they are actually performing the trials themselves, with oversight from Dr. Jeremy Pattison.
  3. N.C. State, UT Scientists Secure $2M to Improve Produce Safety
    • Scientists from the Plants for Human Health Institute and N.C. State are part of a $2M USDA project to improve the safety of organic produce by natural means. The partnership with the University of Tennessee aims to provide safe, alternative, sustainable and effective treatments to reduce foodborne illnesses caused by E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella contamination in organic produce.
  4. Red, White and Blue: The Colors of Healthy Produce
    • Bright and beautiful, the colors of fruits and vegetables offer much more than aesthetic value. They are the products of certain phytochemicals – natural plant compounds – which provide the pigments, and many health-promoting properties, found in fresh produce.
  5. N.C. Research Campus Partnership Launches $1.5M Program Immersing Students in Science
    • The Plants for Human Health Institute are helping to lead an unprecedented partnership of academic and industry organizations at the N.C. Research Campus called the Plant Pathways Elucidation Project (P2EP). The $1.5 million program teams up university scientists, industry leaders and college students who together explore plant pathways to answer why and how plants, like fruits and vegetables, benefit human health.