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Research Centers

A hand adjusts an instrument in the Macro X-ray Crystallography Core (https://www.med.unc.edu/csb/mx) which is part of the UNC Center for Structural Biology (https://www.med.unc.edu/csb, one of the research centers associated with the Department of Pharmacology (https://www.med.unc.edu/pharm/)
The Macromolecular X-Ray Crystallography Core is a core facility in the UNC Center for Structural Biology, one of the research centers associated with the Department of Pharmacology. Photo by Brian Strickland.

Research Centers affiliated with the Department of Pharmacology are listed below.

UNC Gene Therapy Center
The UNC Gene Therapy Center brings together a diverse community of research scientists dedicated to basic and translational research to develop treatments for patients with genetic disorders. The research Center has focused on understanding the molecular biology of viral (adeno- associated virus (AAV), Lenti and Adenovirus (Ad)) and non-viral vectors with the ultimate goal of developing more efficient  gene transfer vectors for gene therapy.

UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies
UNC’s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies has been a leader in the search for the causes and prevention of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and has worked to improve intervention and treatment for alcohol abuse and AUD. The research Center is dedicated to education, outreach and advocacy for the prevention of substance abuse, alcohol use disorder, and fetal alcohol syndrome, and for the training of future addiction medicine researchers.

UNC McAllister Heart Institute
The UNC McAllister Heart Institute provides a world class environment for basic, preclinical, and applied cardiovascular research. Discoveries made by their investigators may provide new diagnostic tools and therapies that can be used to advance the care of patients with diseases of the heart, blood, and circulation.

UNC-Olympus Imaging Research Center
The UNC-Olympus Research Imaging Center is a unique academic-commercial partnership that brings together state-of-the-art biology, chemistry and engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill together with world-class microscopes and imaging from Olympus. Investigators are able to develop collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects that would not be possible without the expertise of multiple labs and the imaging resources of the Center. The Center also provides educational activities such as workshops in specific imaging techniques.

Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence
The Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) focuses on exploiting the host response through nano approaches for cancer disease management and treatment. The Center develops targeted methods for the delivery of biologics, immunologic-modifiers and chemotherapies against melanoma and non-small cell lung cancers, utilizing innovative nanotechnologies developed at UNC-Chapel Hill.

UNC Center for Structural Biology
The UNC Center for Structural Biology combines seven cores in one Center to provide expertise and state-of-the-art instrumentation to support scientists in defining the molecular mechanisms that underpin complex biological systems. The seven research Center cores are: the Cryo-EM Core, the High-Throughput Peptide Synthesis Core, the Macromolecular Interactions Facility, the Macromolecular X-Ray Crystallography Core, the NMR Spectroscopy Core, the Protein Expression & Purification Core, and the Structural Bioinformatics Core.