“Similar to the skin and the gut, the inside of our lungs is covered in microbes that can help maintain lung health, also called the microbiome,” said UNC School of Medicine’s Meghan E. Rebuli, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology. “However, if the balance of bacteria present in the lungs is altered by exposures, such as what we were testing here with wood smoke, it has been associated with lung disease.”

The research, led by first author UNC School of Medicine graduate student Catalina Cobos-Uribe, was published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Researchers identified how much of the different bacteria present in the lungs change after breathing in smoke from burning wood. Mucus samples from the lungs — called sputum — were collected among participants in the study.

Importantly, it was noted that some bacteria that are known to be “good” bacteria were less common after exposure and some bacteria known to be “bad” were more common. This data suggests that wood smoke can alter the lung microbiome, reducing good bacteria and increasing bacteria that can potentially cause harm if present in too large of an amount.

In addition to shifts in the lung microbiome, researchers observed a drop in lung macrophages, an immune cell important for clearing harmful exposures, including particles and microbes. Overall, even short-term exposures to wood smoke, used here as a model for wildfire smoke, in humans can shift the balance of the lung microbiome and immune cells.

“While we thought it was possible for the microbiome to communicate and coordinate with lung cells when responding to wood smoke exposures, we were not sure what we would find,” said Rebuli, corresponding author. “Here where we identified an association between microbiome changes and macrophage changes is a relatively novel insight.”

This work offers a unifying link of better understanding the role of the respiratory microbiome in the lung response to inhaled pollutants. It also highlights how the lung microbiome could be used to screen patients for increased risk of adverse health effects due to wood smoke exposure or to potentially tailor preventative or treatment strategies.

“This could add additional biomarkers, changes in levels of specific bacteria, that could be used to detect early smoke exposure effects in the lung,” said Rebuli. “Long-term we hope that this research will lead to respiratory microbiome-targeted therapies, such as probiotics or microbiome-focused drugs to restore microbiome balance after wildfire smoke exposure.”

Naloxone Near Me is the first website to compile sources of available no-cost and pharmacy-based naloxone in one place. Naloxone is a medication that is highly effective at reversing opioid overdoses. Individuals visiting the website can select any county in North Carolina and find sources of no-cost naloxone and whether pharmacies sell naloxone in that county. The website also includes a link to Naloxone Saves, which directs people to specific locations where they can access naloxone.

“I hope Naloxone Near Me helps counties identify where they can improve naloxone access so they can better advocate for funding to eliminate access gaps,” said Delesha Carpenter, professor and executive vice chair in Eshelman’s division of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy. “That’s the main goal with the website: to help counties identify specific ways they can improve access to naloxone.”

The school started this process in 2023 when they received funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health to create a novel place-based measure of naloxone availability. Researchers started with a survey of organizations who were distributing no-cost naloxone. Then, they obtained access to Medicaid and Medicare prescription claims data and conducted “secret shopper” studies of pharmacies to see if they had over-the-counter naloxone in stock.

Having naloxone can help in situations where people may witness an overdose.

“People mistakenly think they’re safe if they are using nonopioid substances, like cocaine, but opioids like fentanyl are often mixed into these drugs, so it’s important to have naloxone on hand to reverse an overdose,” said Carpenter. “It’s good to have naloxone available if you’re going to be around somebody who is using basically any kind of drug because if they do overdose and you then administer naloxone, it’s very effective at reversing overdoses and preventing death.”

Pharmacy-based distribution of naloxone has been shown to reduce overdose deaths, so it’s important that pharmacies sell naloxone, especially in areas where other opioid overdose prevention services are unavailable. In addition to selling naloxone, pharmacies can partner with community-based organizations to distribute naloxone for free.

“I think, for the state of North Carolina, this can be a trickle-down effect that can benefit everybody,” said Carpenter.

The school hopes to continue updating the website annually and is seeking funding to keep the site updated, since new sources of naloxone are coming online every month.

At the time, chemotherapy options were “really nasty, nontargeted chemo drugs,” she recalls. That conversation sparked a drive to understand how cancer drugs work, and how to make them better. Later, her own experience with battling breast cancer gave her a patient’s perspective when doing her own research.

Today, Pattenden is an associate professor in the division of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. A doctoral graduate from the University of Toronto and later a postdoctoral researcher at both the Stowers Institute in Kansas City and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, she has built her lab around chromatin biology and its central role in cancer.

As Pattenden explained, her lab focuses on chromatin, the scaffold that packages DNA into a cell nucleus. For the DNA sequence to be read, the chromatin needs to be opened. Her work highlights how these accessible “openings” in chromatin often give cancer cells their identity and drive their growth.

Pattenden’s lab is tackling some of the toughest challenges in pediatric oncology in two major projects.

One project focuses on Ewing sarcoma, a bone and soft tissue cancer in children and young adults. Working with Dr. Ian Davis, chief of pediatric hematology oncology at UNC Children’s Research Institute, Pattenden’s team worked to uncover compounds that might counteract the effects of an abnormal protein. This abnormality opens chromatin in places it shouldn’t, activating gene expression programs that drive tumor growth. Her lab designed an assay to target its activity — specifically, its ability to open chromatin.

With support from the National Cancer Institute’s Experimental Therapeutics program, the team screened more than 120,000 compounds. After three years in the NExT program, and over 15 years of research at Carolina, they are now narrowing down compound candidates that might one day move to the clinic for testing.

“We’re talking about the molecular mechanism, so we’re getting right down to the cellular level,” she said. “Success for us looks like finding a new target or a new way to target a key pathway in the tumor cell.”

A second major effort is aimed at the aggressive pediatric cancers osteosarcoma, a cancer that begins in the cells that form bones, and neuroblastoma, a cancer that starts in immature nerve cells.

Whether working with pediatric oncologists, chemists or engineers, Pattenden views teamwork as essential. “I think the only way any of these projects would be possible is because of collaboration,” she said.

Ultimately, her motivation circles back to patients. Cancer is not one disease but many, each requiring new ideas and new tools.

“These diseases are so complicated. Because cancer isn’t just one thing, it’s many, many, many things, we need this kind of research,” she said. “Our goal is to ultimately find a target that we can modulate with a small molecule to specifically target the cancer so that we don’t negatively affect normal cells in the process.”

Read more about Pattenden’s research.

Read more about Carolina’s research impact.

Lola uses artificial intelligence to tailor product suggestions based on individual preferences and goals — balancing nutrition, taste, cost and convenience. The platform’s recommendations aim to make environmentally sound, healthful shopping intuitive and accessible rather than burdensome. Unlike one-size-fits-all approaches, it adapts to each user’s context and previous purchasing behaviors, making it more likely to influence real purchasing behavior.

“For a long time, we’ve worked on ‘nudges’ to help consumers make healthier choices, but implementation in grocery stores has been limited because of the physical nature of those spaces,” Taillie says. “The combined increase in online shopping plus the powerful nature of AI to personalize recommendations opens up major opportunities to help consumers make healthy choices more easily.”

The Kairos program will support Taillie through a six-month venture sprint, pairing her with two dedicated “venture builders” (one business-oriented and one technical) to validate the problem space, develop a compelling value proposition and pilot the platform in real markets. The experience will conclude with a presentation to potential investors, partners and other developers at a Demo Day in March 2026.

The sprint will be powered by a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services — which provides participating teams with advanced cloud infrastructure — AI/ML services, technical mentorship, and startup credits to build and scale rapidly. This partnership gives projects like Lola a distinct edge in developing secure, scalable health solutions.

“Kairos offers an incredible opportunity to quickly learn how to translate research into real-world impact through commercialization,” Taillie said. “At the end of the day, our goal is scalability — to positively affect the most people possible. This program will allow us to act as a ‘dietitian in your pocket,’ helping us reach many more people, which is the ultimate dream for everyone working in public health.”

With the award, Taillie joins a growing group of UNC faculty innovators who are translating promising research into real-world digital health ventures. Her project, which also features the collaboration of the Center for AI in Public Health, highlights how AI and behavioral science can converge to shift food environments, moving academic insight toward measurable public health outcomes.

“A program like Kairos is exactly what we need to tackle today’s urgent public health challenges,” says Anne Glauber, director of innovation at the Gillings School. “By connecting researchers with resources in cutting-edge AI technologies and market expertise, it accelerates the path from evidence-based innovation to meaningful results.”

The center takes a fully integrated approach to drug discovery by bringing together all the expertise and infrastructure needed under one roof. Hits generated through artificial intelligence can be quickly tested and refined through the center’s collaborative groups. The groups are led by pharmacy school faculty:

• Lead discovery, center director and professor Ken Pearce
• Medicinal chemistry, professor Xiaodong Wang
• Chemical biology, associate professor Lindsey James
• Computational biophysics, associate professor Konstantin Popov

AI for drug discovery

Within the center, Popov is pioneering ways to integrate AI into drug discovery. His biophysics and informatics for drug discovery lab is using AI to tackle some of the world’s most pressing health challenges, including tuberculosis and cancer.

Popov and his team were invited to join Jeff Aubé, Eshelman Distinguished Professor, and Dr. Carl Nathan at Weill Cornell Medicine, the TB Alliance and the Gates Foundation on a large collaborative project that was winding down.

Using a novel AI-guided generative method, Popov’s team uncovered compounds capable of targeting a critical TB protein in just six months — with a fraction of the effort and time typically required.

“We were able to come up with several very promising compounds and in collaboration with chemists from Aubé’s group, boosted their enzyme potency more than 200-fold in just a few iterations,” said Popov. “But because of the flexibility of our approach, designed to work efficiently within a small, dynamic academic team, we were able to move much faster. “

For developing targeted cancer therapies, his group applied a similar strategy — using preliminary screens, conducted in the center, to identify promising molecules, then refining them with AI to design compounds that are more effective and less toxic to healthy cells.

Popov emphasizes that while AI is a powerful tool, it can’t succeed in isolation. “You need to incorporate reality checks along the way,” he said. “Otherwise, the model can hallucinate and generate compounds that look great on the screen but can’t actually be synthesized or would be too toxic. By working closely with chemists, we keep AI grounded in biological reality.”

This balance of computational innovation and experimental collaboration has enabled his lab to design biologically relevant and synthetically feasible de novo compounds — molecules that don’t exist in any catalog. This approach allows the creation of entirely new chemical starting points that would be impossible with traditional drug screening, which is limited to testing compounds that already exist in libraries.

The DELi Platform

Popov is also committed to democratizing access to AI. His lab recently developed the DNA-Encoded Library informatics platform, the first open-source software capable of rivaling commercial tools for analyzing DNA-encoded library data.

“Very few published AI tools developed for research are actually used,” said Popov. “We want to change that by building practical tools that are easy to access and use in academia.”

Unlike proprietary software controlled by large companies, DELi is freely available, easy to install and provides extensive documentation and ongoing support from Popov’s team. “It’s the first open-source package of its kind, and the feedback has been amazing,” Popov said.

He hopes to spark broader adoption of AI tools across the academic community, helping labs everywhere accelerate discovery without prohibitive costs.

“AI can accelerate the early stages of drug discovery dramatically,” Popov said. “But it only works in the right hands — when scientists bring their knowledge of chemistry and biology to guide the process. That’s what makes the difference.”

The program trains the next generation of pharmacists by focusing on practice advancement and clinical education. In this partnership between the pharmacy school and premier pharmacy locations, preceptors and residents work together in community pharmacies across North Carolina.

Since about 95% of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, each is a vital resource, especially for those in rural areas.

“Many of our sites are in rural counties and communities. Pharmacists are often the most accessible health care providers because consumers can walk into their pharmacy at any time and then have access to a trained professional,” said Macary Weck Marciniak ’00 (PharmD), residency program director.

(Submitted photo)

Residents are licensed pharmacists with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. After completing the program, they can either accept a position at a clinical site or apply to another specialty program to continue their training.

The program has supported 163 residents over the past 25 years and is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in partnership with the American Pharmacists Association. Prospective residents apply for the program and indicate their interest in various sites, and successful candidates match with one site where they will train for a year.

The program partners with practice sites across North Carolina, where pharmacist preceptors mentor residents. The sites include independent community pharmacies, large national chain pharmacies, supermarket pharmacies and ambulatory care settings where pharmacists and patients interact with other health care providers.

“The preceptor mentoring relationships are building diverse and meaningful experiences for our residents. At the same time, we’re building the pipeline of the workforce here in North Carolina. Right after their residency, they’re ready to step into leadership roles in their community,” said Marciniak. “I think of it as little Tar Heel footprints across the state, since we have these practice sites in western, central and eastern North Carolina.”

Moose Pharmacy owner Joe Moose and his father, William, approached Carolina to collaborate with the program from the beginning.

“Our proudest accomplishment is our footprint across North Carolina and nationwide. The residency program graduates are leaders all over the country and are raising the bar for pharmacy and health care in their communities,” Moose said.  “I love the innovation and the fact that we get to try out new models to deliver better care. If we didn’t have those residents, it would be tougher to pull that off.”

Preceptors and residents offer a variety of patient care services. Residents tackle a wide range of tasks each day — mentoring students, teaching lectures, working directly with patients and developing new programs. They administer vaccines, provide medication management services and conduct point-of-care testing for COVID-19, flu, blood pressure and blood sugar.

(Submitted photo)

“We have a phrase here, and we call it building your toolbox. Our pharmacy is a very innovative space, which means we are doing things that have never been done in a community pharmacy,” said Amie Howe ’01 (PharmD), Moose Pharmacy pharmacist and residency site coordinator for the PGY1 residency at Moose Pharmacy. “The residents play a huge role in developing those projects.”

Looking back on the program’s history, Marciniak said, “it’s amazing to say we’ve had something that stood the test of time for 25 years, with various practice partners and over 150 trainees. Our graduates are carrying forward what they’ve learned to help in every community they serve.”

In this system-wide leadership role, Carter will accelerate the translation of medical research breakthroughs into clinical applications to improve patient care not only across UNC Health’s network of hospitals and clinics, but throughout North Carolina and beyond. In partnership with key stakeholders, he will develop commercialization strategies for the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health system, forge partnerships between researchers, clinicians and industry leaders, advise inventors and entrepreneurs, and expand access to impactful cutting-edge solutions.

Carter’s transition to UNC Health builds on his proven track record of transforming research discoveries into real-world health and economic impact, enabling him to focus on medical and healthcare commercialization and entrepreneurship – areas of critical importance to North Carolina’s research economy and patient care.

Since joining Carolina in 2023, Carter has directed Innovate Carolina and provided the strategic vision to advance and build a stronger, more cohesive innovation pipeline at the University. During his tenure, UNC-Chapel Hill-affiliated startups and commercialization activities generated nearly $8 billion in economic impact across North Carolina.

He also led pan-University collaboration through strategic partnerships with the Carolina Angel Network, Innovation Hubs, the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, the Institute for Convergent Science and the NC Collaboratory, translating foundational research and classroom knowledge into real-world impact through commercialization, startups, and partnerships.

Under Carter’s leadership, Carolina climbed 32 spots in the National Academy of Inventors Top 100 Worldwide Universities rankings – the largest single-year jump in the University’s history. He also established UNC-Chapel Hill’s chapter of the National Academy of Inventors to support and celebrate the achievements of inventors within the University community.

Carter also guided the creation of the UNC Innovation Impact Framework, a bold 10-year strategic approach designed to drive economic growth and improve lives across North Carolina and beyond. Developed in collaboration with partners across the University, this framework strengthens Carolina’s position as a national leader in innovation and innovation-based economic development, laying out a unified vision to build, support, elevate, engage and nurture innovation that serves the public good.

Jackie Quay, interim executive director of Innovate Carolina and the director of licensing and innovation support in the UNC Office of Technology Commercialization, will provide interim leadership for the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development following Carter’s departure.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, show that adding blood tests to an existing risk calculator can help physicians better determine who truly needs blood thinners — powerful drugs that prevent strokes but can also cause dangerous bleeding.

“This will help doctors better select patients for anticoagulation, potentially saving lives and reducing health care costs,” said Dr. Samuel Short, a first-year hematology and oncology fellow at the UNC School of Medicine and lead author of the paper.

Short began this research as a medical student at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine alongside faculty mentor Dr. Mary Cushman. Together, they used data from an ongoing national cohort study of 30,239 adults monitored for stroke and related diseases termed Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia that makes the top chambers of the heart quiver instead of pumping normally. The blood inside the heart moves more slowly, and this pooling of blood can lead to blood clots.

“Blood clots can be ejected by the heart to the brain — causing stroke,” said Short. “Blood thinning medicines, or anticoagulants, make it harder for the blood to clot, lowering stroke risk. However, not every patient can or should be on a blood thinner.”

Blood thinners can reduce stroke risk for some people with atrial fibrillation, but some people who take them experience a breakthrough stroke anyway, with the medications potentially causing dangerous side effects related to uncontrolled bleeding.

Stroke risk calculators aren’t exactly new. Physicians currently use a conventional risk calculator that considers a patient’s age, sex and medical history to estimate a patient’s stroke risk before prescribing anticoagulants.

However, the conventional risk calculator does not account for heart dysfunction, accelerated blood clotting and inflammation, which are all important risk factors for stroke.

“Current calculators are not particularly accurate and improving these tools can both decrease strokes and bleeding by offering the right medicines to the right patients,” said Short.

The improved risk calculator accounts for these additional risk factors by adding results from the blood tests to the calculation. The calculator is based on two studies led by Short, Cushman and other researchers at the University of Vermont, which were published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

In the first study, researchers looked at nine blood tests that might predict the occurrence of stroke in 713 people who were taking an anticoagulant to prevent stroke. With a 12-year follow-up, 9% of these people developed a breakthrough stroke. Short and Cushman discovered that three blood test results identifying proteins associated with heart dysfunction, accelerated clotting and inflammation activity were linked to the risk of a stroke.

In the second study, researchers looked at the same 9 blood tests in 2,400 people who were not taking an anticoagulant to prevent stroke. Over 13 years, 7% of them developed a stroke. Short and Cushman discovered that two of the blood tests increased the ability to predict a stroke.

The researchers used these two blood tests to create a more accurate risk scoring system. This improved scoring system can be used by clinicians to decide which patients with atrial fibrillation might benefit the most from anticoagulant medication.

Although the calculator is not yet ready for use in clinics, physicians can use the new improved stroke risk calculator online for easy access.

The Graduate School’s annual 3MT is designed to sharpen public speaking and storytelling. Students say it’s practice for moments such as job interviews, conversations with a policymaker or reporter or meetings with potential funders. The school’s CareerWell team offers participants workshops and consultations.

Read about three projects from the competition.

Bugs as drugs

Alita Miller, a doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, won first place for “Bugs as Drugs: A New Way to Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease.” Miller will represent UNC-Chapel Hill at the regional 3MT competition, hosted by the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.

Miller is developing enhanced probiotics — the “good bacteria” people often take for gut health — to help treat inflammatory bowel diseases. She hopes to translate that research into therapies and into leadership in the biotech world.

“One big aspect of leading teams or leading a company is being able to communicate in a very easy to understand way,” she said. “That’s what I learned through the 3MT experience.”

Dialects in children’s TV shows

Nicole Peterson, a doctoral candidate in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, won the People’s Choice award for “Intersections of Dialect, Gender, Race and Class in Children’s Television.” Her research examines how streaming shows for children portray different dialects — specifically Southern accents and African American Vernacular English — and how those portrayals can reinforce stereotypes or erase authentic voices.

“I can’t present 200 pages of research in an interview, but I can get them to listen for three minutes,” Peterson said.

Peterson’s preliminary findings show that of the more than 1,000 characters studied, about 4% used a Southern accent and less than 3% used an AAVE accent.

Stereotyping of characters with Southern and African American Vernacular English accents included depicting both as nonhuman and Southern speakers as poor, uncultured and low class. Women with AAVE-accents tend to be depicted as managers and modern strong Black women, while men with AAVE-accents are often shown as emotionally immature and broken.

For Peterson, the clarity from preparing is critical to her career. “Our most marketable skill is our ability to communicate. You’re going to have to talk to people. AI is not going to get rid of that.”

Political prediction markets

Parker Bach, also a Hussman doctoral student, won second place for “Who Called It? Information, Culture and Public Opinion on Political Prediction Markets.” He researches prediction markets –– platforms where people wager on future events –– with a focus on election outcomes. “Journalists often treat odds in prediction markets like they’re science, so I want to know how people decide to bet in them,” he said.

Bach found:

• Around the 2024 elections, journalists started reporting on prediction market odds alongside or in place of poll-based forecasts.
• After the election, news references to prediction markets as evidence continued on topics beyond just elections.
• The more journalists report market odds like scientific fact, the more incentive there is for people with money to move markets artificially to make news.
• Prediction markets forecast elections fairly well, but more research is needed to know how well they predict other events.

Bach called the competition “a great chance to work on not only explaining what you’re doing to a general audience but also crystallizing for yourself why that’s important,” adding that public speaking is expected of academics but rarely taught directly.

See the presentation videos.

“I love pediatrics, I love kids and it’s for an underserved population,” she said when she saw the posting. “There’s a need for advocacy, and I have a strong voice for others who may not have one. It’s leadership but also clinical. It’s the best of both worlds. I would do complex care coordination, and I can come in and make a positive change. It’s my dream job. I’ve got to do it.”

Her previous experience included being a medic in the U.S. Army and the medication and diabetes care manager for the Lee County School System, and she has a degree in health care management.

Hill is also a natural leader, and the position at the clinic combines her medical and organizational skills — a perfect fit.

Managing a busy clinical environment

Since she started, Hill has created a special place for patients and their families, as well as for staff, faculty and doctors.

“The doctors would describe me as a ‘chaos coordinator,’” she said. “They call me ‘boss lady.’ I’m very regimented in my approach. It’s almost like the craniofacial clinic is an orchestrated performance, with so many specialties seeing patients in one visit. I have to coordinate each step, and it’s organized, beautiful, chaos.”

“Her management techniques combine a tough love with a tender heart, which tends to motivate to action those in our team,” said Dr. Allen Samuelson, director of the Geriatrics and Special Care Clinic. “I give Jessi high praise for her work and creativity. She also has a fun side and tries to keep up the morale of our team members and does this well given all our circumstances.”

Hill has also created a strategic plan for the craniofacial clinic to address areas she feels need attention and to support outreach for patients, families and students. She hopes to create a support network for patients and families with cleft palates and craniofacial conditions. She plans events to help foster a sense of community among that same population, including Carolina Cheer Day, which spreads awareness about craniofacial issues.

(Submitted photo)

Sharing her knowledge

Scholars and dental students reap the benefits of Hill’s planning and foresight. Health care management interns from within the UNC System spend time in the craniofacial clinic during the summer months, learning about clinic operations, customer service, quality improvement and patient dignity. The clinic also hosts a rotational site visit for dental students to help expose them to new populations within the oral health sphere.

“Students may not have interactions with other kids who are affected by clefting or craniofacial conditions. It’s important that they understand the importance of cleft and craniofacial care,” she said.

She has a similar philosophy for health care administrators. “My philosophy regarding health care administrators: Build relationships and make informed decisions,” she said. “If you want to be a successful and accepted administrator, you first need to identify and consider whom and how the changes you make will impact someone. At some point, you will find yourself responsible for advocating for patients, caregivers, staff, and doctors. If you are going to be the future of health care, you need to understand health care from the bottom up.”

When she’s not in the clinic, Hill can be found teaching her 16-year-old twins how to drive, ferrying her 14-year-old daughter to various activities and engaging in favorite activities like going to concerts, the beach and paddleboarding.

Read more about Jessica Hill.