In 1982, along with Dr. Milton Constantin, botany professor Dr. Randolph Henke founded Phyton Technologies, a technology transfer business, which used tissue culture technology to propagate large numbers of plants from a single tissue sample and provided a means for selectively enhancing certain qualities of plants. Henke and Constantin developed the technologies at UT, and UT assisted in the establishment of the start-up of the business. Henke was one of two faculty included in the 1985 briefing of President Ronald Reagan on university research as a driver of economic growth.