Drug-checking project undercuts overdoses
A team led by Nabarun Dasgupta is analyzing mailed-in street drugs and sending health alerts to N.C. communities free of charge.
The N.C. General Assembly established the North Carolina Collaboratory in 2016 to facilitate the dissemination of the policy and research expertise for the UNC System and other universities across the state to solve North Carolina’s most pressing challenges through collaboration.
Headquartered at Carolina, the Collaboratory conducts both legislatively mandated research, as well as ideas that originate from Collaboratory staff and advisory board members, including landslide mapping in Western North Carolina and the public health impacts of Hurricane Matthew along the coast.
In 2018, the Collaboratory received its first large appropriation of $5 million to study per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in North Carolina. Since then, the Collaboratory’s funding has grown to $148 million and includes research partnerships with experts from every part of our state.
“Our mission is to address pressing environmental, economic and public health issues faced by North Carolinians through academic research that 1) advances knowledge, 2) informs policyand 3) accelerates innovation,” said Jeff Warren, executive director of the NC Collaboratory.
Learn more about the Collaboratory and its mission in a Q&A with Warren
Click on a story below to learn more about the important research happening at the Collaboratory and the people making it happen.
A team led by Nabarun Dasgupta is analyzing mailed-in street drugs and sending health alerts to N.C. communities free of charge.
UNC-Chapel Hill environmental engineer Orlando Coronell and chemist Frank Leibfarth have developed a filtration resin that has thus far been successful in removing most PFAS from water.
Rose Houck ’25 uses her knowledge from her Carolina courses to conduct research on water quality and flood resiliency issues in our state with the North Carolina Collaboratory.