Notre Dame Science

10/28/2026

What class would make the scariest haunted house? 🎃

10/26/2026

Visualizing the structures of the brain 🔬

To capture high-resolution, biological images, researchers can use the Leica Stellaris 8 Dive confocal microscope, affectionately nicknamed “Stella” at Notre Dame.

This instrument helps Katrina Adams, the Gallagher Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, visualize intricate structures of the brain, such as neurons and their surrounding myelin sheaths, the insulation that protects nerve cells.

Using fluorescent labeling to illuminate specific proteins and cell types in brain models, researchers in the Adams Lab identify whether the myelin insulation has degraded, which is a sign of neurodegenerative disease.

Learn more about the instruments used in research at the University of Notre Dame: https://bit.ly/4yVd51T

📸 Photos by Michael Caterina

10/23/2026

science > magic 🫧

What’s happening in this demo? First, let’s talk dry ice—aka solid carbon dioxide. Dry ice is −109°F, and when it warms, it doesn’t melt into liquid like ordinary ice does. Instead, it undergoes a process called sublimation: changing directly from a solid to a gas. This demonstrates a physical change, rather than a chemical change.

When Dr. Kate Biberdorf adds dry ice to the soda bottle filled with water + ph indicator + sodium hydroxide, two things happen:

Sublimation happens rapidly, because the water is warmer (a lot warmer!) than the dry ice. The extreme cold from the dry ice causes water v***r to form tiny droplets, making the otherwise invisible gas visible as fog. You’re not seeing CO₂ gas; you’re seeing the water v***r that is produced from condensation—like a cloud in the sky!

A color change: the dry ice neutralizes the base and turns the solution acidic. The solution began as purple, then it turned to blue > green > yellow.

Then the bubblebath enters the chat. Soap contains surfactants, the molecules that allow water to form a stretchy, relatively stable film—bubbles! When the CO₂ and fog come into contact with the bubble bath solution, the soap actually stretches around the expanding gas, forming a bubble.

10/23/2026

The Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility at the University of Notre Dame has installed a new research instrument: a hybrid tool that combines materials characterization with nanoscale precision machining and sample preparation.

The instrument is operational and currently available for use by Notre Dame researchers and external partners.

The Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility (NDIIF) at the University of Notre Dame has installed a new research instrument—a hybrid tool that comb...

10/22/2026

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the University of Notre Dame continued its trajectory of research growth, submitting the most proposals and receiving the highest value of external research awards in the institution’s history.

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the University of Notre Dame continued its trajectory of research growth, submitting the most proposals and receiving ...

10/21/2026

🔬 As the global demand for energy-efficient computing increases, Badih Assaf, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, investigates new materials that can transform data storage technology. He uses the Thermo Scientific Spectra 300 Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope in the Electron Microscopy Core within the Integrated Imaging Facility at Notre Dame as a window into atoms.

He maps individual columns of atoms to identify their chemical composition at a scale thousands of times smaller than a human hair. Assaf’s lab synthesizes advanced quantum materials one atomic layer at a time, creating high-performance films with properties that sometimes cannot exist in nature.

The Spectra 300 (S)TEM pinpoints hidden defects, reveals oxidation, and delineates how distortion between atoms affects the performance of the quantum materials. This precision enables the lab to create magnets that store electronic data at ultra-high densities, while also minimizing interference.

10/21/2026

Sharon Stack and collaborator Siyuan Zhang have created MetTag, which tracks how ovarian cancer cells metastasize—the process of cancer spreading away from the original tumor.

With MetTag, cancer cells are “time-stamped” and tagged with unique genetic “barcodes” at different times in the experimental process. This allows researchers to track which wave of cells formed the tumor.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4yB0UX7

Stack is the Ann F. Dunne and Elizabeth Riley Director of Harper Cancer Research Institute, and Kleiderer-Pezold Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Notre Dame. Zhang, now at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, was formerly the Nancy Dee Associate Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame.

10/21/2026

Some of the imaging instruments utilized in research on campus at the University of Notre Dame are actually rather fascinating themselves!

A selection of such instruments are the subjects of this striking photo essay:

- Bruker Venture D8 Single-Crystal X-ray Diffractometer
- Jupiter XR Atomic Force Microscope
- Flow Cytometer and Microscope (FlowCAM)
- Thermo Scientific Spectra 300 Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
- Leica Stellaris 8 Dive confocal microscope,
- Renishaw inVia InSpect confocal Raman spectrometer

These instruments are house in Notre Dame's core facilities—fully staffed, shared research facilities that support the University’s vibrant research community with specialized instrumentation and expert guidance.

View the photos: https://bit.ly/4yVd51T

10/19/2026

Congratulations to David Gonzalez, winner of the 2026 Postdoc Lightning Talk Competition!

Twelve postdoctoral researchers took on the challenge of sharing their research in just 3 minutes, putting their communication skills—and their ability to make complex ideas accessible—to the test.

Gonzalez, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mathematics, took first place with his talk, “Counting Infinite Sheep.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners:

🥇 1st place: David Gonzalez, Department of Mathematics
🥈 2nd place: Marah Brinjikji, Department of Physics and Astronomy
🥉 3rd place: Annyesha Biswas, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
⚡ Fan favorite: Emma Filip, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

And congratulations to all 12 postdocs who stepped up to the mic and shared their research!