Affiliation: University of Tennessee

Scott C. Lenaghan is an Associate Professor within the Department of Food Science at the University of Tennessee, with an adjunct position in the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE) Department. After completing a PhD from Auburn University in Biological Sciences, and a two-year postdoc in the MABE Department at the University of Tennessee, he was promoted to Research Assistant Professor within MABE in 2011. In 2013, he accepted a Research Assistant Professor position at the Center for Renewable Carbon (CRC) to lead an ARPA-E funded project on single-cell biology and bioengineering. Upon successful completion of that project, he accepted his current position within the Department of Food Science and has established a nationally recognized lab focused on the development and use of synthetic biology for global food security and biosensing. His research and expertise cover a wide range of disciplines, with a primary focus on engineering biological systems, biomaterials, and devices that utilize cutting-edge synthetic biology tools and approaches. A goal of his research is to expand the current definition of synthetic biology beyond molecular biology tools, translating advances into synthetic/engineered constructs, such as micro/nanorobots, diagnostic devices, and biosensors. Commensurate with these goals, in 2018, he founded and serves as the Director of the Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology (CASB) along with Dr. C. Neal Stewart, Jr. In addition to his research, he currently teaches a course on molecular parasitology to introduce students to underrepresented pathogens that cause significant damage to the overall quality of life of humans and animals.