Adeline Schmidt

Adeline Schmidt

Biography

Adeline Schmidt is a rising junior at the University of Florida majoring in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Biomolecular Engineering. She is currently an undergraduate researcher in the Denard Research Group, where she utilizes the Yeast Endoplasmic Sequestration Screening (YESS) platform to characterize nanobody libraries. Her work focuses on identifying potent inhibitors for clinical variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease, leveraging yeast surface display to evaluate protein-protein interactions at a high-throughput scale. Adeline’s dual fascination with molecular mechanisms and biological applications has led her to pursue research at the interface of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Before her current work in protease research, Adeline was a member of the Rinaldi-Ramos Lab. Her project involved the encapsulation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) to control their Néel and Brownian relaxation mechanisms; by minimizing Brownian relaxation via a polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer matrix, her work sought to enable the rapid magnetic responses necessary for higher-resolution imaging. Her experience in microfluidics and polymer gels sparked a keen interest in the programmable nature of polymers for drug delivery, particularly the potential for cross-linking substrates into a PEG-SPION microgel matrix to enable enzyme-triggered, site-specific releases traceable via magnetic particle imaging (MPI) modalities. Following her undergraduate degree, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering to develop innovative biochemical solutions for targeted drug delivery systems. At MIT, she is eager to expand her technical toolkit in synthetic biology and contribute to high-impact research within the MSRP community. Outside of the laboratory, she enjoys spending time with her cat, Olive, often “teaching” her the complex engineering concepts she learns in class to solidify her own mastery of chemical and biomolecular engineering.