Brian C. Sanders

Brian joined ORNL in 2019 as an Associate Staff Scientist in R&D. He is currently working in the Molecular and Cellular Imaging Group in the Biosciences Division within the Biological and Environmental Systems Sciences Directorate. His background is in synthetic chemistry, biochemistry, and bioinorganic chemistry and his research interests are at the interface of chemistry and biology, leveraging small molecules and bioconjugates to better understand and control biological processes. Current research spans from understanding chemical signaling between plants and microbes to biomedical research involving antiviral and targeted radioisotope therapeutic development.

The goal his recently supported ORNL LDRD ECC project is to develop contrast probes to enable subsurface imaging of the complex network of soil properties, root architecture, and microbial community structure, to better understand intact plant-microbe-soil environments.  

Brian is an active member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and The Society for Biological Inorganic Chemistry (SBIC). Prior to moving to ORNL, his previous appointment was an NIH Ruth Kirchstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Georgia in 2015 and his ACS Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from the University of Tennessee in 2008.