Tennessee at BIO 2026

Tennessee’s innovative and business-friendly environment is propelling our state forward as a favorable location to grow bioscience and medtech companies. Meet with leading researchers, executives, and economic development professionals to learn more about opportunities for you at the Tennessee Pavilion.

Tennessee’s life science momentum is propelling our state forward as a favorable location to grow bioscience and medtech companies. The state is capturing a wave of new life science innovations through strategic investments, strong institutional partnerships, and a growing ecosystem of companies and infrastructure. A key example is the development of a world-recognized CDMO in Middle Tennessee through August Bioservices, bringing high-throughput pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities to the region and strengthening our ability to move discoveries efficiently to market. 

Our research institutions continue to expand their impact. Vanderbilt University is advancing plans for a 40-acre research and innovation district in downtown Nashville, further positioning the region as a hub for collaboration and commercialization. In Knoxville, a close collaboration between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is advancing the development of radiopharmaceuticals and supporting a new biotech park at UT focused on cancer therapeutics and advanced research.

At the same time, a new generation of companies in Tennessee—including Nissha Medical Technologies, Dxcover, Revance, Lynch Regenerative Therapies, and Currax—are advancing technologies and therapies that are moving from development into the marketplace. Global companies such as Oracle and Thermo Fisher Scientific also have a strong and growing presence in Tennessee, contributing to the state’s expanding life science infrastructure.

Together, these assets, spanning research, innovation, manufacturing, and distribution, create a statewide ecosystem that supports the full life science value chain.

Join us at the Tennessee Pavilion #3117 to meet with life science companies, researchers, and academic organizations as well as hear featured presentations about innovations in the Volunteer State.

On Wednesday, June 24, we will host a Tennessee Red Carpet Day, an all-day concierge-style activation. Designed to roll out the red carpet for life science companies across the globe exploring growth, partnerships, or expansion, this special event brings together Tennessee’s top life science leaders in one place for one day with one simple goal: to say “yes” and help companies move forward.

Jump to the presentation schedule

Join us on Wednesday, June 24 at 5 p.m. PT at barleymash in the Gaslamp Quarter for a Tennessee reception. Sip Tennessee whiskey and meet representatives from Tennessee’s life science industry to find new opportunities.

This reception will be held just blocks away from BIO’s Block Party, which will kick off right after our reception concludes.

SPACE SAVER

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Tennessee Pavilion will host researchers and industry experts for a series of presentations. From radiopharmaceuticals to AI solutions for monitoring antimicrobial resistance, learn about the life science innovations in the Volunteer State.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23 

10:30 AM  The Development and Advancement of Radiopharmaceutical Therapies in Tennessee

• Sandra Davern, Section Head for Radioisotope R&D, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

11:00 AM  A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Vanderbilt’s New Innovation Neighborhood

• Alan Bentley, Director of Technology Transfer, Vanderbilt University

1:00 PM  Colorimetric Sensors for Infection Detection

• Amber Jennings, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer, ChromatoCare Innovations; Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Memphis

1:30 PM  Precision Delivery: Tuning Cell-Penetrating Peptide Selectivity for Targeted Cancer Therapeutics

• Bashiyar Almarwani, Faculty Member, East Tennessee State University

2:00 PM  Green Power: Plant Metabolic Engineering and Plant Molecular Farming

• Tianhu Sun, Assistant Professor and Graduate Coordinator, Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University

2:30 PM  AI-Driven One Health Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance Through Longitudinal Wastewater Genomics, Temporal Forecasting, and Source-Targeted Intervention

• Alba Frias-De-Diego, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Tennessee Tech University

3:00 PM  PolyIC: AI-Enabled Molecular Characterization of Pharmaceutical Polymers

• Yongmei Wang, Department of Chemistry, The University of Memphis

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

9:30 AM  Closing the Distance: Innovative Cancer Care in Appalachia

• Brad Day, Associate Vice Chancellor, The University of Tennessee, and Executive Director, East Tennessee Health Innovation Alliance

10:00 AM  AI-Guided Protein Corona Fingerprinting: A Nanotechnology- Based Approach for Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease

• Mohammad Hajipour, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University

10:30 AM  How to Build Your State’s Innovation Capacity: Lessons from Launch Tennessee’s TTAC Model

• Jennifer Skjellum, Associate Director, University Outreach & Engagement, Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium

11:00 AM  Cellular-Based Therapies for TMJ Osteoarthritis. Exosome Therapy Versus Stem Cell Therapy: How Do They Differ?

• Shirin Shahnaseri, Assistant Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Meharry Medical College

1:30 PM  From Maternal Milk Biology to Therapeutic Development

• Chuan Wang, Lead Scientist, STEMilk and Vanderbilt University

2:00 PM  From Discovery to Deployment: Biotechnology Partnership Opportunities at UTHSC

• Jessica Snowden, Vice Chancellor for Research and Interim Dean, College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

2:30 PM  Development of Fused Heterocyclic Quinoxaline-Based Anti-Mitotic Agents for High-Risk Cancers

• Souvik Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Middle Tennessee State University