Principle Investigator

Joshua A. Baccile
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, 2017
Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Josh grew up in Big Flats, New York, and attended SUNY Cortland for his B.S. in Chemistry working on the synthesis of photocleavable peptide conjugates under Prof. Frank Rossi. He then moved 30 minutes away to get his Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University. His graduate research focused on the discovery and characterization of novel biosynthetic pathways and metabolites from filamentous fungi. After his Ph.D, Josh went across the country to do postdoctoral research in Prof. David Tirrell’s lab at Caltech in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. His postdoctoral research was focused on the development of artificial protein force sensors for hydrogels. In August of 2020 Josh moved to Knoxville, TN and started the lab in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Lab Technicians

Robby Turner
B.S. and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering, 2024
Texas A&M

Graduate Students

Dillon McBee (4th Year GS)
B.S. in Biochemistry, 2020, Youngstown State
dmcbee1 [at] vols.utk.edu

Nick Trybala (4th Year GS)
B.S. in Chemistry, 2018, Tennessee Tech
ttrybala [at] vols.utk.edu

Anna-Kay West (4th Year GS)
M.S. in Organic Chemistry, 2020, Ball State
B.S. in Biochemistry, 2018, Ball State
awest60 [at] vols.utk.edu

Tawakalitu Afolabi (3rd year GS)
M.S. in Chemistry, 2021, University of Ibadan
B.S. in Chemistry, 2018, University of Ibadan
tafolab1 [at] vols.utk.edu