Trailblazers: Research and Innovation

The potential is “absolutely staggering.” Those are the words of Eric Jorgenson, Vice President for Biomanufacturing Development for the East Tennessee State University Research Corporation. He is describing the ETSU/Eastman Valleybrook facility, given to the university by Eastman in 2010. Located on Pickens Road in Kingsport, it consists of some 144 acres, a 72,000-square-foot research, wet labs, and office complex, and 30,000 square feet of warehouse space.

For Jorgenson, Valleybrook symbolizes endless possibility and potential. “The first time I saw Valleybrook, I fell in love,” says Jorgenson, who has over 14 years of experience in the construction of fermentation laboratories. His focus, through the ETSU Research Corporation, is bioindustrial manufacturing, and out of that can come a whole variety of products and commercial applications, from plastics and polymers to concretes and alternative proteins. Entrepreneurs and startup companies engaged in these endeavors need labs, and Valleybrook has them.

David Golden, the Research Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, explains that one of the many ways in which ETSU can help diversify the regional economy is through the development of synthetic biology, a field of science that involves redesigning organisms for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities. “This technology enables the emergence of bioindustrial manufacturing, which is revolutionizing our approach to solving global challenges and driving economic growth. From engineering sustainable feedstocks from everyday materials to developing alternative proteins, the applications are boundless.”

Dr. Aruna Kilaru, ETSU Professor of Biology and Faculty Fellow for Interdisciplinary Innovation in the Biosciences, predicts that the future bioeconomy will be worth between $30 trillion and $40 trillion globally in the next decade. She adds that the job market in this field is projected to grow at the rate of 10,600 new jobs a year through 2032. ETSU aspires to be a global leader in the field of synthetic biology and bioengineering, driving scientific discovery and technological advancements.

Adds Jorgenson, “Bioindustrial manufacturing applications are exploding every single day. From a local level, a state level, a national level, and a global level, opportunities are all aligning to tell us the same message: that Northeast Tennessee can be a real leader in these fields. We can pull it off if we move quickly, and if we execute well. Valleybrook is a research and development complex that is ideally suited to what we want to do, and we are starting to get clients lined up to use it.”

Dr. Linda Latimer, Chair of the ETSU Board of Trustees and a Quillen College of Medicine alumna, agrees. “One of the things that is so important about Valleybrook is its location between two major interstates. For economic development, it is in the center of Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City, and Greeneville.”

Latimer looks forward to the day when a large ETSU Research Corporation sign will be visible from those interstates.

“When you look at the grand sweep of human history, innovation is the throughline for prosperity,” says Golden.

Jorgenson sums up the value of Valleybrook this way: “We can work with scientists to take synthetic biomanufacturing projects from the petri dish to the commercial product.”