Steven Bradfute, PhD

Associate Professor, Internal Medicine

- Biology, therapeutics, and vaccines for emerging RNA viral pathogens

Steven Bradfute, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Bradfute received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), where he studied immune responses to hemorrhagic fever viruses. Dr. Bradfute started his lab in 2013 and his research focuses on immunity, therapeutics, host-pathogen interactions, and vaccine development for emerging and re-emerging RNA viral pathogens that cause human disease, including hantaviruses, arenaviruses, filoviruses, and alphaviruses.

José Cerrato, PhD

Professor and Regents' Lecturer, Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering

- Extraction of Critical Minerals and Communities: What is the Balance?

José Cerrato, PhD, is a Professor and Regents’ Lecturer in the UNM School of Engineering. He is also the director of the UNM METALS Superfund Research Center and UNM Climate and Health allied Network for Geospatial and Environmental Science (CHANGES) Center. His presentation will focus the extraction of critical minerals and impacts on communities. Critical minerals are essential to sustain the growing needs of our society. Extraction of critical minerals is necessary for various technologies ranging from energy to electronics. However, extraction may also result in the release of elevated concentrations of toxic metals into water and soil. This represents a concern for the health of communities. Uranium mining legacy in tribal lands in the Southwestern US has resulted in numerous sites with elevated concentrations of uranium, arsenic, and other metal mixtures. The challenges for extraction of critical minerals in ways that benefit communities and minimize negative impacts will be discussed.

Zoom Link: https://hsc-unm.zoom.us/j/93116182996
Password: Innovation

Cory Windorff, PhD 

Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, New Mexico State University

– Building Radiochemical Capabilities and Understanding Unusual Elements

Cory Windorff is an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at NMSU. Prof. Windorff completed his PhD at the University of California-Irvine, which included a one year internship at Los Alamos National Lab. Cory undertook postdoctoral studies at Florida State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at NMSU in August 2020. Cory's research focuses on the synthesis and reactivity of f-element compounds with a focus on bonding and electronic structure. The f-elements (the actinides and the rare earths) play a critical role in clean energy generation, defense applications, medicine, and more.

Christopher A. Baker, PhD

Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry, New Mexico State University

– Measuring Molecular Size from Attomole Samples

Chris Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at New Mexico State University. Dr. Baker earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry in 2012 from Florida State University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona (2012 – 2014) and Sandia National Labs, Livermore (2015). He was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee (2015 – 2020) before moving to NMSU in 2020. The Baker Bioanalysis Lab applies expertise in separation science and microfluidics to develop technologies that enable challenging measurements in biochemistry and chemical neuroscience. Recent efforts have focused on the integration of capillary electrophoresis with Taylor dispersion analysis to achieve biomolecular size determinations from nL samples at nM concentrations. The lab also develops technologies for ex vivo brain tissue culture, working towards a brain-on-chip model applicable to neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Alison Kell, PhD,

Assistant Professor, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology

– Investigating innate immune signaling in hantavirus infections

Alison Kell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine at UNM. Dr. Kell completed her PhD and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington before joining UNM in January 2020. Her research focuses on understanding the virus-host molecular interactions that drive severe disease and asymptomatic persistence of hantaviruses in human or rodent reservoir hosts, respectively. Applying a comparative immunology, genomics, and proteomics approach, her lab aims to identify critical interactions during hantavirus infections that lead to fatal immune activation in human hantavirus patients.

Rob Miller, PhD

Distinguished Professor, Biology

– The human immune system is remarkably generic and boring

Rob Miller is a Distinguished Professor of Biology who has been at the University of New Mexico since 1994.  He is a founding member and current Director of the Center for Evolutionary & Theoretical Immunology at UNM.  In addition, Rob has served as a Program Director and, more recently, the Deputy Division Director of the Division of Integrative Organismal Biology in the Directorate for Biological Science at the U.S. National Science Foundation.  Rob is an immunologist interested in evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system.  He has worked with a wide variety of species including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, with particular focus on the marsupials, monotremes and squamate reptiles.  Most recently his research has focused on unconventional T cell receptors and novel T cell subsets found in species other than humans and mice, and the evolution of antibody genetics and structure.

Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD

Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Director, Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D), Director, Faculty Research Development, UNM Health Sciences – Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D): Enhancing Equity Across the Kidney Care Continuum

– Enhancing Equity Across the Kidney Care Continuum

Gabriel Pacyniak, JD

Professor, UNM School of Law

– Supporting Communities in a just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy