Building a Rainforest in the Desert | September 2025

UNM Rainforest Innovations is hosting the UNM Quantum Research & Technology event on September 3 from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Lobo Rainforest Building to showcase quantum research and technologies from the University of New Mexico.

A few spots opened up! Register here

This event is part of the IEEE Quantum Week. For more information, please visit: https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/ieee-quantum-week-2025/

New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) Secretary Rob Black will discuss the state’s ambitious and multifaceted strategy for sowing the seeds for accelerated economic growth. Since becoming Secretary, Rob has launched initiatives designed to attract foreign investment, foster local business growth, and establish New Mexico as a national leader in key emerging industries.

Rob believes NM is on the cusp of significant economic expansion. He’ll detail the concrete steps being taken to transform the state’s economic landscape. A cornerstone of this strategy is the newly established NMexus Center. It's envisioned as a dedicated conduit for attracting foreign direct investment from companies ready to bring jobs and capital to New Mexico.

A promising new method for detecting ribonucleic acids emerged from research conducted at the University of New Mexico Clinical and Translational Science Center’s (CTSC) Translational Lab. This innovation, filed as a patent application titled “Methods and Systems for Detecting Ribonucleic Acids,” was developed through collaborative efforts between CTSC lab personnel and UNM Health Sciences researcher Christos Argyropoulos, MD, MS, PhD, FASN.

The CTSC Translational Laboratory (T-Laboratory) is comprised of 6,000 gsf of wet-lab space, located in the renovated UNM CTSC Building. The T-Laboratory offers state-of-the-art equipment and technical assistance with laboratory techniques for UNM HSC investigators.

For this particular project, CTSC Lab Personnel Susan Tigert and Debbie Lovato partnered with the investigator, Dr. Argyropoulos, to establish a new technique (long-read nucleic sequencing) at the T-Lab. The innovation provides a single tube protocol for the creation of libraries from RNAs (isolated from cells, extracellular media e.g. blood or urine) that allows the simultaneous detection of short and long RNAs using platforms for long RNA sequencing. Furthermore, they provided additional technical training to the investigator and his own lab staff, which allowed them to design and execute the experiments that produced the data that supported the patent application. Under the new opportunities of SW CACTI and the collaborations with the University of Arizona, it will be exciting to see what additional innovations can be developed.

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Exporting and Expanding Your Market with the NM Trade Alliance, Interview with Victor Chavez

In this latest episode, hear Victor Chavez with the NM Trade Alliance discuss export opportunities, technical assistance, and how you can expand your business into new markets!

Victor Chavez, is a results-oriented professional with a diverse background in project management, resource management, and technology commercialization. As an entrepreneur who has also experienced corporate life, he brings to the table an integral, 360-degree vision and understanding of business, having navigated through various challenges himself.

Listen on Spotify

Watch on YouTube

UNM Rainforest Innovations is collaborating with the City of Santa Fe Economic Development Department to bring this roundtable event to Santa Fe for Native American owned-businesses and entrepreneurs.

These monthly gatherings create space for Native American entrepreneurs, artists, and business owners to connect, share resources, and build pathways to success. Mark your calendar—this roundtable will meet monthly, 10:00 a.m. at the Santa Fe Business Incubator!

Scheduled Dates for Roundtable Events:

• Tuesday, September 9th
• Tuesday, October 14th
• Tuesday, November 12th
• Tuesday, December 9th
• Tuesday, January 13th
• Tuesday, February 10th
• Tuesday, March 10th

Meet with SCORE mentors at the Lobo Rainforest Building! Dar Johnson and Vik Berniklau will be available for one-on-one, confidential discussions and mentoring to inventors, students, and start-up companies.

SCORE mentors are successful business people and entrepreneurs who want to give back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs become and stay successful. SCORE has been helping small businesses start and grow in the Albuquerque area for over 50 years through mentoring and workshops and seminars. SCORE is the largest National resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA) with about 11,000 SCORE volunteers sharing their time and talents to help America's small businesses.

IN-PERSON at the Lobo Rainforest Building. Click "Sign up" to select the time frame you plan to attend.

Meet the Mentors:

Dar Johnson has over 57 years in the aerospace private sector and with the Government, including over 38 years in senior and C-level management positions. He has been responsible for achieving growth nation-wide, obtaining new customers, cost containment, turning around marginal operations, increased profitability, customer satisfaction, staffing, and policy and procedure development. He also has worked in business development, proposal support, capture manager and proposal manager. He has owned a successful consulting business.

Areas of Expertise:

• Business Plan
• Government Regulations
• Management & Operations
• Marketing
• Product Development

Vic Berniklau is retired from the US Department of Energy as Senior Executive after filling positions in Technical and Administrative Leadership. Started two small businesses in electronic security with wife and son growing them to 30 employees ($2M sales) and turned them over to son who continues to grow them. Consultant in technology management and business management. Instructor at University of New Mexico at Graduate Level in Public Administration (Research Methodology) and Business Administration (Management of Technology).

Areas of Expertise:

• Accounting & Finance
• Business Plan
• Government Regulations
• Management & Operations
• Product Development
• Technology