PhD candidate Nathan Bryant

Chemical engineering PhD candidate Nathan Bryant was recently selected as a postdoctoral research fellow through the National Research Council (NRC) Research Associate Program.

Bryant collaborated with Jason Widegren at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop his research proposal, “Unraveling the entourage effect: Do cannabis-associated terpenes influence the binding of THC/CBD to cannabinoid receptors?” The project aims to evaluate the interaction between terpenes and cannabinoid receptors by nuclear magnetic resonance—a technique that Bryant used extensively during his PhD studies.

NRC fellows are chosen through a selective competition, with each applicants’ research proposal and qualifications evaluated using a peer review process. The NRC Research Associate Program seeks to “bring research scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability to perform advanced research.”

Bryant’s research proposal and application were ranked in the top tier of all applications, granting him two years of centralized funding. He is advised in his PhD studies by Arthur Ragauskas, UT-ORNL’s Governor’s Chair for Biorefining. He will join the Fluid Characterization Group at NIST in Boulder, Colorado, this fall, where he will conduct research related to his proposal.

Contact

Randall Brown, (865-974-0533, rbrown73@utk.edu)