The Duke University Clinical & Translational Science Institute will double its research space to10,000 square feet at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis.

It’s the home base of the MURDOCK Study, for Measurement to Understand the Reclassification of Disease Of Cabarrus and Kannapolis, which got under way in earnest in 2009.

NEWBY

People from 20 ZIP codes in and around Kannapolis and Cabarrus County joined the study which has more than 12,500 participants and 430,000 biological samples.

Participants complete a follow-up form every year, and researchers track changes to their health over time.

“The value of the MURDOCK Study is its ability to help researchers answer big questions to better understand health and disease. We could not do this work without our dedicated participants,” said Dr. L. Kristin Newby, principal investigator for the MURDOCK Study and director for Translational Population Health Research (TransPop).

The study has 150 scientific collaborators across 21 institutions, with more than 100 Duke faculty members using samples and data to explore a broad range of research questions.

Construction is expected to take place this fall on the third floor of the North Carolina Research Campus Medical Office Building.