Crown Laboratories scientists receive adjunct faculty status

at ETSU

JOHNSON CITY – Crown Laboratories Chief Science Officer Dr. Thomas Hitchcock
and Director of Biological Science Dr. Mun Su Rhee have been appointed as adjunct faculty
members in the East Tennessee State University Department of Biomedical Sciences. The skin
care company scientists join the university as part of a collaboration to foster research activity.

The appointments into the department will provide opportunities for collaboration,
internships and more between Crown and ETSU, particularly in skin and microbiome science.
Additionally, this will provide a potential pipeline of ETSU graduate recruiting to more technical
roles within the skin care company.

“The Quillen College of Medicine and our Department of Biomedical Sciences are
excited to partner with Crown Laboratories on these exciting developments,” said Dr. Bill Block,
ETSU vice president for Clinical Affairs and dean of the Quillen College of Medicine. “To work
with scientists like Dr. Thomas Hitchcock and Dr. Mun Su Rhee is a great opportunity and
demonstrates the true nature of private and academic partnerships. As a community based
medical school, these efforts align perfectly with our mission.”

In addition to Crown’s state of the art microbiome research and manufacturing facility in
its Johnson City plant, the ETSU Innovation Lab is home to another of Crown’s microbiome wet
labs. Hitchcock and Rhee have conducted research out the Innovation Lab since March of 2021.

“Having Drs. Hitchcock and Rhee overseeing the cutting-edge research, marrying
synthetic biology, cell therapy and probiotics in their skin-care products, both here at the ETSU
Innovation Lab and at their state-of-the-art facility in Johnson City, is exactly the kind of
innovative collaboration that will put our region on the map as an epicenter for rural
entrepreneurship,” said Dr. Audrey Depelteau, Innovation Lab director. “I look forward to the
evolution of faculty, student, and Crown partnerships and student internship opportunities.”

Previously, Rhee occupied a wet lab space at the ETSU-Eastman Valleybrook campus
from summer of 2019 to spring 2020 prior to the opening of the Crown Microbiology Lab and
Micro-Facility.

“I think that Crown’s microbiome research expertise and ETSU’s academic capabilities
will create a wonderfully synergistic effect,” Rhee said. “Through the biological capabilities
within ETSU and Crown, we will further elucidate the relationship between bacteria and human
skin. This understanding of novel information will contribute not only to basic science but also to
advances in skin microbiome product development.”

Hitchcock and Rhee will also be leading a new educational research program this fall,
which will further Crown’s research capabilities and train student interns for future full-time
positions with the company.
 “Much of the scientific innovation that we see in the world comes out of academic
research. It is where both Dr. Rhee and I were molded as scientists,” said Hitchcock. “It makes
perfect sense for Crown to tap into the academic ecosystem that we have right here in our
hometown. We are looking forward to working with both ETSU’s faculty and student body as
well as the Innovation Lab to elevate our research program, especially in the area of the skin
microbiome. To be able to partner with ETSU’s medical school and Department of Biomedical
Sciences is very exciting both for us at Crown and for the Appalachian Highlands community.”