MICaB Graduate Student Zoe Schmiechen Wins Three Prestigious Trainee Awards
The Center for Immunology is thrilled to recognize an extraordinary achievement by MICaB (Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology) graduate student Zoe Schmiechen, who has been awarded three major trainee honors this semester:
Each of these highly competitive awards, reviewed by separate committees across the University of Minnesota, recognizes exceptional scientific promise, innovation, and research excellence. That Zoe was selected for all three is a powerful testament to the caliber of her work and potential.
Zoe conducts her doctoral research in the lab of Dr. Ingunn Stromnes, advancing the field of tumor immunology with a focus on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). Her thesis investigates both cancer-intrinsic and -extrinsic mechanisms of immune evasion after immunotherapy. She has identified a receptor upregulated on cancer cells following treatment and is probing its role in driving metastasis. In parallel, she is uncovering how regulatory T cells contribute to T cell dysfunction and disease progression.
Zoe also leverages single-cell technologies to map the T cell response to immunotherapy, to identify rational therapeutic combinations to overcome resistance in PDA. One promising approach includes a novel combination of IL-15 complex, agonistic anti-CD40, and anti-PD-L1, which has shown potential to overcome T cell exhaustion and drive a T-bet⁺ effector program.
Congratulations, Zoe! We are proud to celebrate this remarkable milestone and grateful to the award committees for recognizing her exceptional contributions.
