Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

September 15, 2024 | Tom Ballard

UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute awards $450,000 to six researchers

Three projects are focused on circular bioeconomy systems, and three others address radiopharmaceutical therapies.

The University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII) recently awarded six grants – five to UT, Knoxville faculty members and a sixth to a researcher from the UT Health Science Center who are leading research to advance UT-ORII’s circular bioeconomy systems and radiopharmaceutical therapies convergent research initiatives (CRIs). UT-ORII’s CRIs are emerging areas of strength for both UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Each of the selected research efforts will receive about $75,000.

Circular Bioeconomy:

  • Amanda May for a project titled “Combined Impacts of Microplastics and Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) on Metabolomic Functions of Bioenergy Crop Rhizosphere Bacteria”;
  • Nour Abdoulmoumine for a project titled “CO2 Valorization to Bio-Derived Chemicals and Polymer Precursors”; and
  • Ivan Popov for his project titled “Development of Next-Generation Lignin-Derived BioVitrimers with Dynamic Covalent Networks for Circular Recycling Systems.”

Radiopharmaceutical Therapies:

  • Sue Chin Lee (UTHSC) for her project titled “Establishing Patient-Derived Ovarian Cancer Cell Models to Evaluate the Therapeutic Efficacy of Alpha-Particle Therapy”;
  • Joshua Baccile for a project titled “Development of Novel 89Zr Chelators Towards Enhanced PET Imaging Applications”; and
  • Michael Danquah for a project titled “Radiolabeled Aptamers for Targeted CD19 Theranostics in Early-Stage B Cell Malignancies.”


Like what you've read?

Forward to a friend!

Don’t Miss Out on the Southeast’s Latest Entrepreneurial, Business, & Tech News!

Sign-up to get the Teknovation Newsletter in your inbox each morning!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


No, thanks!

Teknovation.biz
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.