The
mission
We are really passionate about sustainability and chemistry. We believe that all chemicals will someday come from renewable sources.
We recognize that switching away from petroleum-based chemicals is not easy. Today, only providing plant-based alternatives is not enough. Lignolix goes beyond just plant-based alternatives by delivering performance-driven, sustainable solutions to complex chemical challenges.
The
Background
Lignolix was started in 2019 after years of research at the University of Delaware. We found a new way to chemically break down lignin without the dangerous and expensive conditions historically used. Lignolix is using this discovery to create new classes of renewable, sustainable specialty chemicals and materials with a focus on performance advantages. Lignolix is now located in a newly renovated commercial lab space in Newark, DE.
Lignolix has won nearly $3M in grants from NSF I-Corps™ Teams, the Department of Energy, University of Delaware Proof of Concept Program, Delaware Innovation Space FastPass, and Delaware EDGE grant.
The
Team
Eric Gottlieb, PhD – CEO & co-founder
Eric received his B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in 2013 and 2018, respectively. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a post-doctoral researcher in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware, which is where he met his eventual co-founders. When not working, Eric likes to cook, ferment foods, and go on runs.
Robert O’Dea – CTO & co-founder
Robert received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware in the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked as a Process Development Engineer at the Lubrizol Corporation. At Lignolix, Robert is the CTO and focuses on technology and product development. In his free time, he likes to travel, cook, and mountain bike.
Christina Pellicane – COO & co-founder
Christina received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Georgia and a Master of Business and Science from Rutgers University in 2009 and 2012, respectively. She started her career as a researcher at a biotech startup then became an entrepreneurship educator and has since taught/mentored hundreds of deep tech startups around the world. Most significantly she was the Director of Commercialization at the University of Delaware where she met the co-founders in 2017. She loves to travel and has been to 30+ countries and 40+ U.S. states.
Thomas H. Epps, III, PhD – CSO & co-founder
Thomas is the Director of the Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers, the director of the Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials, the deputy director of the Center for Plastics Innovation, and the Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware with a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering and an affiliated appointment in Biomedical Engineering. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1998 and 1999, respectively, and he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2004. Thomas was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST from 2004-2006, prior to joining UD in the fall of 2006. Lignolix’s core technology was developed in Thomas’ lab at UD and he is the chief scientific officer for the company.