Three Notre Dame faculty featured as keynote speakers at international conference in Mexico

The XIII National Congress of Technology Applied to Health Sciences and the III Congress International Technology Applied to Health Sciences (CONITACS) was hosted from June 15-17, 2023 in the auditorium of the UNAM School of Medicine. For the first time, three faculty from the University of Notre Dame participated in this international conference as part of the guest speakers list. The conference was hosted by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) through the Medicine Faculty and the ICAT, the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, the Universidad Iberoamericana in Puebla, the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP), and the CIMAT Monterrey.

Shahriar Mobashery, Katharine White, and Matthew Champion were the three researchers —all part of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry— who presented at the conference. The first day, Mobashery presented the “Cell-Wall Recycling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the Nexus to Antibiotic Resistance.” The second day, White presented the “Spatiotemporal pH dynamics regulates proteins, pathways, and cell behaviors.” White presented the “Small protein discovery and characterization using mass spectrometry” on the final day of the conference. In addition to the presentations, faculty had the opportunity to engage with other researchers and faculty from all over the country to explore ways to collaborate in the future.

Additionally, undergraduate and graduate students presented their investigations in the form of posters to the judges. Notre Dame’s three faculty members were part of the jury who chose the best one from each category after evaluating each proposal's innovation, methodology, creativity, and applicability based on the use of technology to generate new diagnostic and treatment techniques.

To strengthen the Notre Dame community in Mexico, the Notre Dame Club of Mexico and the Mexico Global Center organized a local event. On their last night in Mexico, the faculty engaged with the alumni and stakeholders from Mexican Universities while they enjoyed the extraordinary view of the Mexico City skyline at sunset.

Learn more about other initiatives in Mexico.