Timothy J Tschaplinski

Bio

Dr. Tschaplinski is the Section Head for Biodesign & Systems Biology and a Distinguished Research Scientist in the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, TN.  Dr. Tschaplinski graduated with his Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Toronto in 1987 and after completing his postdoctoral studies at ORNL, he was hired as a Research Staff Member in 1990.  He is a plant molecular physiologist experienced in biochemistry, specifically the application of mass spectrometry to research problems in genomics, bioenergy crop production, environmental stress physiology, and plant-microbe signaling.  Current research includes metabolomics for phenotypic characterization of genetically-modified Populus, Arabidopsis, Eucalyptus, Castanea sp. (American and Chinese chestnut), switchgrass, and numerous bioenergy-relevant microbial species, and coupling metabolomics with genome-wide association studies to identify gene function.  Research targets include the application of genomic tools for the accelerated domestication of Populus to reduce biomass recalcitrance to microbial deconstruction, increase drought tolerance and biomass productivity on marginal sites to increase crop sustainability, and to manipulate bioproduct formation.  Most recent activities include characterizing the molecular basis of plant-microbe (bacterial and fungal) symbiotic relationships in contrast with pathogenic relationships.  He has authored and co-authored 195 publications and currently serves as Research Council Member for the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded Bioenergy Research Center, is the Science Co-lead for the Plant-Microbe Interactions Science Focus Area of DOE, the ORNL lead PI for the Clostridial cBioFab Biodesign project with Northwestern University (Michael Jewett, PI) and LanzaTech, and the ORNL lead PI for the DOE-ARPA-E funded Carbon-Negative Chemical Production Platform project with LanzaTech (Steven Brown,  lead PI) and the University of Michigan.  Dr. Tschaplinski is also an ORNL Graduate Advisor for the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, and the UT-ORNL Genome Science & Technology Graduate School, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Awards

1985 Canadian Forestry Service Scholar Scholarship

1984 Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council - Postgraduate Scholarship

1983 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council - Postgraduate Scholarship

1982 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council - Postgraduate Scholarship

1982 Edward Elsworth Johnson Postgraduate Forestry Fellowship

1981 University of Toronto Open Master's Fellowship

1980 Canadian National Sportsmen's Fellowship

1980 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council - Summer Research Award

Trademarks and Patents

ORNL Patent # 2525.2 - Key gene regulating cell wall biosynthesis and recalcitrance in Populus, Gene Y – US9206436 B2, Published December 8, 2015

ORNL Patent # 1933.1 - Plant Pathogen Resistance – US8318786 B2, Published November 27, 2012 - Licensed by Sci Protek, Inc., Visalia, CA 

Publications