Agenda

Here is a Draft agenda for the symposium. You can also download a PDF version by clicking the button below.

PDF Agenda

2026 NM-INBRE Symposium Agenda

Hotel Encanto | Las Cruces, NM

Monday July 27th 2026

Time Room
2:00 pm-5:30 pm Registration check-in | Poster set-up Lobby | San Andres
3:30 pm-5:00 pm
Faculty professional development workshop
    Required of DRPP and NIRF awardees

    Open to all faculty

 San Andres
3:30 pm-4:30 pm
Student research committee meeting (by invitation only)
    Kevin Houston
Socorro
5:30 pm-7:30 pm
Welcome reception and key note adress
    hors d'oeuvres & cash bar
San Andres/Avenida

Tuesday July 28th, 2026

Time Room
7:00 am-8:15 am
Breakfast
 San Andres
8:15 am-8:45 am
Welcome remarks, introductions, and overciew of INBRE
    Shelley Lusetti, NM-INBRE PI
San Andres
8:45 am-9:15 am
INBRE Data Science Core
    Charlotte Gard

    Amy Wagler

 San Andres
9:15 am-10:15 am
Research landscape at partner institutions
    Institutional Liaisons
San Andres
10:15 am-10:45 am
Break
 Avendia
10:45 am-11:30 am
Research presentations: session 1

I've got iron on my mind: exploring factors that shape the neuroinflammatory response of microglia
  • David Donley | NMHU
Personalized AI from the operating rom to recovery for rural New Mexico
  • Huixin Zhan | NMT
Dissection somatosensory development in a multicellular context
  • Jacob Jaszczak | NMSU
 San Andres
11:30 am-11:35 am
Perspective #1: the Everest of unanswered health questions
    Matthew Campen, UNM
San Andres
11:35 am-12:15 pm
Etiquette, scientific decorum: guidelines, expectations, and unwritten rules
    Carolyn Hovde Bohach, Univ of Idaho
San Andres
12:15 pm-1:30 pm
Lunch and keynote address | What doesn't kill you mutates and tries again: Current research on and control of emerging infectious diseases
    Kathryn Hanley, NMSU
San Andres
1:30 pm-2:30 pm
Poster session: odd-numbered posters
 San Andres
2:30 pm-3:30 pm
Poster session: even-numbered posters
San Andres
3:30 am-3:35 am
Perspective #2: the Everest of unanswered health questions
    Jeffrey Arterburn, NMSU
San Andres
3:35 pm-4:20 pm
Research presentations: session 2

Optimizing fabrication strategies to enable transcriptomic analysis of mechanically loaded neural tissue constructs
  • Michaelann Tartis | NMT
Student well-being, identity, and inspiration: longitudinal and comparison research in New Mexico, across the U.S., and abroad
  • Daniel Chadborn | NMHU
CXCL12/CXCR4 Signaling coordinates early placental development: Insights from a translational sheep model
  • Ryan Ashley | NMSU
 San Andres
4:25 am-4:55 pm
Undergraduate research short talks: session 1

Global transcriptomic comparison of Alzheimer's disease
  • Alicia Tirado | UNM (Virtual Bioinformatics)
Toxicity assessment of treated produced water from thermal and membrane processes and post treatment organic extract on human cell lines
  • Devyn Erickson | ENMU (NMSU Internship)
Switching protein translation mechanisms affects hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell activity
  • Matthew Bacho | Univ of Hawaii at Manoa (UNM Internship)
 San Andres
5:15 pm-7:00 pm
2026 DRPP applicant working session (by invitation only)
Shelley Lusetti, All 2026 DRPP applicants 		San Andres

Wednesday July 29th, 2026

Time Room
7:00 am-8:00 am
Breakfast
 San Andres
8:15 am-8:30 am
Announcements
 San Andres
8:30 am-9:15 am
Research presentations: session 3

Two sides to every enzyme: how electrostatics couple active sites to interaction surfaces
  • Matthew Guberman-Pfeffer | NMSU
Mechanisms of contaminant resistance and their physiological consequences
  • Corey Green | ENMU
Evolutionary genomics of immune variation: building a framework to link the major histocompatibility complex, microbiomes, and chemical communication
  • Rhiannon West | NNMC
 San Andres
9:15 am-9:20 am
Perspective #4: the Everest of unanswered health questions
    Erik Yukl, NMSU
San Andres
9:20 am-9:50 am
Undergraduate research short talks: session 2

Investigating the molecular basis of sickle cell nephropathy through comparative bioinformatics.B45:B47
  • Braden Holden Silvis | NMSU (Virtual Bioinformatics)
Development and characterization of a hydroxyapatite-based composite scaffold loaded with natural medicine for bone tissue engineering
  • Jose Hernandez | NMT (Home Internship)
Physiological attributes and antimicrobial activity of bacillus atrophaeus
  • Finn McManus | DACC (Bootcamp)
 San Andres
9:55 am-10:00 am
Perspective #5: the Everest of unanswered health questions
    Brad Shuster, NMSU
San Andres
10:00 am-10:30 am
Break
 Avendia
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Student-centered panel discussion

Working in Data Science
  • Charlotte Gard, NMSU| Amy Wagler, NMSU | Joann Mudge, NCGR
Research mentors
  • Michele Shuster, NMSU| Sally Pias, NMT | Juchao Yan, ENMU
 San Andres
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Faculty-centered panel discussion

Research career challenges and strategies to survive and win
  • Shelley Lusetti | Kathryn Hanley | Jeff Arterburn, Raj Shah | Erik Yukl | Brad Shuster
 San Rafael
12:00 pm-12:30 pm
Wrap up and awards

Shelley Lusetti

San Andres
12:30 pm
Depart with sack lunches available
 Avendia
1:00 pm
NMSU INBRE high performance computing, registration required

Amy Wagler, NMSU

Avendia