Innovator Spotlight: Cong Trinh |
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With support from the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, Cong Trinh, Ph.D. is developing a scalable biomanufacturing platform that could help industries produce high-value industrial chemicals from renewable resources instead of petroleum.
A professor of chemical engineering and Ferguson Faculty Fellow in the Tickle College of Engineering at UT Knoxville, Trinh is engineering programmable microbial “cell factories” that transform agricultural feedstocks into high-value chemicals. Through their startup, Estersol, Trinh, and his collaborators are working to bring the technology from the research lab to the marketplace.
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*Numbers reflect information 07/01/2025 - 04/30/2026 and are subject to change
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| Innovation Disclosures |
U.S. Patents Filed | U.S. Patents Issued | Licenses |
Startups |
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| 167 | 89 |
12 | 24 | 2 |
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| Innovations being Marketed |
Companies Contacted | Companies Responded | Company Discussions |
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| 51 |
541 | 75 |
41 |
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Innovation Developed by UT Health Sciences Research Program Passes Landmark Trial for Cardiac Amyloidosis |
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A new diagnostic tool developed at the UT Health Sciences may soon make it significantly easier for physicians to detect cardiac amyloidosis, a progressive and frequently underdiagnosed disease caused by abnormal protein deposits in the heart.
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The tool is a novel imaging technology, a radioactive molecule that, when injected into a patient and scanned, lights up amyloid deposits in the heart, making a disease that was once nearly invisible on imaging clearly visible for the first time.
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UTRF is hiring an assistant or associate technology manager to support the technology evaluation, protection, marketing, and commercialization efforts of early-stage UT technologies.
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Outreach completed by the UTRF team during May 2026
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Presented to the Universities Research Association on “The Role of Philanthropic Investment in University Research.”
- Attended Knoxville’s inaugural “Innovation Night at the Park” where four UT-related companies pitched.
- Attended Tennessee Tech University for AI TechX’s "From Lab-to-Market: Accelerating AI Innovation” conference.
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Attended the Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association spring meeting in Nashville.
- Hosted Monthly Virtual Office Hours for the UT Health Science Center and UT Martin campuses.
- Attended the 2026 Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit to learn about the frontiers of nuclear energy, quantum technologies and national security.
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UT Innovators with newly opened disclosures in April 2026.
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Fuhar Dixit
Tickle College of Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Mohammad Saleh Khan
Tickle College of Engineering, Min K. Kao Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Yicheng Zhang
Tickle College of Engineering, Min K. Kao Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Toby Nelson
UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education
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Max Markuson Diprince
UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education
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Fatima Zahra
College of Education, Health & Human Sciences, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
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Hua Bai
Tickle College of Engineering, Min K. Kao Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Daniel Costinett
Tickle College of Engineering, Min K. Kao Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Xin Xia
Tickle College of Engineering, Min K. Kao Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Sandun Kasthuri Dias
UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education
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Heidi Goodrich-Blair
College of Arts & Sciences, Dept. of Microbiology
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UT Institute of Agriculture |
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Madhu Dhar
College of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Large Animal Clinical Sciences
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Zihao Zhang
Herbert College of Agriculture, School of Natural Resources
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Steven Newby
College of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Large Animal Clinical Sciences
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Liza Makowski-Hayes
College of Medicine - Memphis, Dept. of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
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Athena Davenport
College of Medicine - Memphis, Dept. of Genetics, Genomics & Informatics
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Bernd Meibohm
College of Pharmacy, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences
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Joseph Jackson
College of Medicine - Knoxville, Dept. of Knoxville Medicine
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Have an Idea? Let's Talk! |
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