John L. Gainer

John Lloyd Gainer (July 19, 1938 – July 28, 2025) was an American chemical engineer and co-founder and chief scientific officer of Diffusion Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company based in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. Professor Gainer retired from his position as Chief Science Officer of Diffusion Pharmaceuticals in March 2020. Gainer pioneered investigation into the mechanism of action underlying oxygen diffusion-enhancing compounds (ODECs) and invented the subclass of ODECs known as bipolar trans carotenoid salts. The lead compound of this class is trans sodium crocetinate (TSC) which Gainer invented while a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Virginia.

Life and career Gainer was born in Grafton, West Virginia on July 19, 1938, to Vincent and Dora Gainer, both teachers. Growing up in Tunnelton, he graduated from Tunnelton High School, part of the Preston County Schools district, in 1956.

While at the University of Virginia, Gainer invented TSC by modifying certain natural products, including saffron, resulting in the creation of a novel single trans isomer carotenoid salt. The drug's clinical promise became evident when Gainer and colleagues demonstrated that TSC could improve survival in animal models of severe hemorrhage while reversing the drop in blood pressure that accompanies the loss of large amounts of blood. He was awarded the first of over a dozen patents on ODECs and TSC in 2000.

Gainer married Susan Smith from Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1981; the couple had two sons. He died in Charlottesville on July 28, 2025, at the age of 87.

Awards and honors Gainer became professor emeritus in chemical engineering at the University of Virginia in 2005. He has been a member of the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue since 1973, the year that the society was formed. He received the University of Virginia Alumni Association's Distinguished Professor Award and the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Southeastern Section of the American Society for Engineering Education.