Sophia Schumaecker is a 3rd-year Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major studying lymphatic drug delivery with Dr. Brandon Dixon. 

How long have you been an undergraduate researcher at Georgia Tech?

I have been an undergraduate researcher here at Tech since the Fall of 2023, where I joined Dr. Brandon Dixon’s Laboratory of Lymphatic Biology and Bioengineering.

How did you get involved with undergraduate research?

My undergraduate research journey technically started in high school, as I had to find a lab to work in for a senior capstone project. I started the cold emailing process and ended up working in an oncology engineering lab at Virginia Tech for about a year. My principal investigator from that lab had actually obtained her master’s in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech, which was one of my major motivations for ending up as a student here. She had worked together with Dr. Dixon during her Postdoc, so I asked to make that connection and joined the Dixon Lab as a volunteer in my freshman year.

What are you working on?

My project mainly focuses on the impacts of chemotherapy treatments on the structure and functionality of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is responsible for immunosurveillance throughout the body, which is accomplished via fluid transport. Basically, when a foreign pathogen enters the body, it is recirculated via the lymphatic fluid to your lymph nodes, which contain the biological machinery to destroy these invaders. However, as a result of this fluid transport, this phenomenon is implicated in many instances of cancer metastasis. The lymphatic system is global to your body, so it behaves as a rapid network between different organ systems through which cancer cells could travel between.

Cancers are often treated with a class of drugs known as chemotherapies; however, past literature has indicated that some chemotherapies exacerbate this rate of cancer invasion via the lymphatics. My research models the lymphatic system using a combination of isolated human cell lines and collagen (to mimic extracellular matrix) to test how these chemotherapies impact both lymphatic membrane integrity and genetic expression relating to system-remodeling. I hope this research will provide insight into the exact mechanisms responsible for lymphatic-mediated cancer metastasis, as well as uncover methods to mitigate it.

What is your favorite thing about research/researching?

As an artistically minded person, I really enjoy the creative process that is required to design and troubleshoot experimental methodologies. Oftentimes, the goal of research is to discover the “unknown," meaning there is not always a step-by-step manual on how you should execute your research; it is up to you to think creatively and carve that path. Along those lines, research also gives me the opportunity to employ my skills in the visual arts when designing graphics for posters or publications. Being able to communicate your findings is absolutely crucial within this discipline, and oftentimes that translates to creating a concise graphic or animation that summarizes your hypotheses and/or results.

What are your future plans and how has research influenced them?

My future plans after my undergraduate are to pursue a PhD in a biological engineering-related field. I hope to remain within the realm of lymphatic research, as there are many gaps in knowledge relating to its functionality that could transform how we treat disease. Additionally, I feel that with its microfluidic nature, it is the perfect specimen to study with my background in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

In the long term, I hope to enter the realm of academia and become a principal investigator for my own laboratory. I want to make a significant contribution to my field, as well as pass on this knowledge to the next generation of bright minds.