Research Projects

Dr. Schmidt's research investigates the alteration in a person’s life and brain after traumatic brain injury. Specifically, she is interested in self-awareness and self-identity changes after injury and neurological underpinnings of injury and recovery. Additionally, she aims to determine effective rehabilitation strategies and mechanisms of recovery for people with brain impairment.

Contraception policy: impacts on contraception use, pregnancy rates, pregnancy outcomes 

Conception cohorts: overcome methodological limitations in administrative population data to maximize pregnancy capture (including those ending before 20 gestational weeks)

quantum field theory, string theory

Migration and adult education and learning; Lifelong learning in Asia; Work and learning; 

Mathematics, almost any field

Setting up a new virtual reality test environment

• Nucleolus, phase separation, stress response, and treatment resistance.
• Multiomics approach to profile RNA granules and define selective mRNA translation.
• Molecular mechanisms of the control of gene expression at multiple levels - mRNA synthesis, transport, localisation and degradation.
• Relationship between RNA granule machinery and prostate cancer treatment… more

• Genetic diversity of past Pacific Herring populations
• Genetic diversity and stock identification of ancient Pacific Salmon
• Changes in marine biogeography relating to past climate change

My newest research is funded by a five-year SSHRC grant and explores the role of World War 1 in Canada's demographic development in the first half of the 20th Century. It aims to return war and military service to the forefront of research after decades of neglect. This particular research focuses on understanding how war and serving in the military impacted population processes in Canada in… more

Forests and food security; sustainable landscape management; biodiversity; rural livelihoods and markets; ecosystem services; non-timber forest products

We study how cells, tissues, and organisms adapt to stresses (hypoxia, oxidative stress, starvation) and how their function is compromised during aging. We investigate these processes and cellular responses because they contribute to or even cause human pathologies, such as cancers, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. 

We are especially interested in gene regulation by the… more

Dance improvisation as a laboratory for understanding interactive cognition; Neurophenemonology of mental health/addiction; Active/inhibitory avoidance in major depression

• Development of quick and inexpensive index tests to perform initial estimates of the mechanical properties of soils
• Use of drained and undrained vane shear tests to characterize the in situ mechanical behavior of tailings
• Development of robust techniques to extrapolate incomplete results of pore water pressure dissipation tests performed during CPTs
• Comparison… more

I may have space for 1 graduate student starting fall 2026. Students interested in working on insect biodiversity, insect/plankton responses to warming temperatures, urban ecology, or butterfly ecology in the Okanagan are encouraged to contact me.

Catalysts for CO2 conversion 

Methane pyrolysis

New ways to electrically heat thermochemical reactors with low-GHG electricity

Carbon fiber synthesis

High temperature hydrogen separation membranes

Ammonia as a hydrogen carrier

Technoeconomic analysis

1) Muscle excitation-contraction coupling: How does an electrical signal in a muscle cell get transmitted into contraction? We investigate the membrane proteins involved in this process (L-type calcium channels, Ryanodine Receptors), as well as the various proteins that modulate these channels. Projects include solving crystal and cryo-EM structures of these channels in complex with the… more

• Movie + OCD = This project creates and tests a novel movie stimulus designed specifically to evoke symptoms of OCD while participants are undergoing fMRI scans. The goal is to identify a disorder-specific network that has clinical relevance at the individual-subject level.  Analytic approaches will include machine-based learning algorithmes (e.g., Connectome Predictive Modeling) and… more

Metabolites directly reflect genetic, physiological, and environmental changes and can provide a reliable readout for therapeutic effectiveness. Pharmacometabolomics refers to the study of measuring metabolite changes in response to drug therapy. In the assessment of cancer, metabolites excreted from tumors can be measured by routine non-invasive sampling of plasma and urine. Projects in the… more

Online Teaching & Learning in Higher Education

Population oral health

Professional Identity and Professionalism

Admission/Selection

Public Understanding of Oral Health

Guided by my own vision of building a cancer-fear free world, my research program addresses some of the most pressing challenges in advanced prostate cancer. I explore tumor dormancy to understand how cancer cells evade therapy and later reignite disease. I lead the development of lactic acid suppression therapy, targeting the metabolic vulnerabilities of tumors through first-in-class lactic… more

1. Finding therapeutic targets to remove diseased cells in the atherosclerotic lesions

2. Drug repurposing for atherosclerotic disease

3. Developing spatial and single-cell endotyping technologies for cardiovascular tissues 

Current opportunities: https://www.hli.ubc.ca/careers/

1. Coordination of Microtubule Assembly Dynamics by the Microtubule Polymerase MOR1 and the ARK Catastrophe Factors
2. The Function of the GPI-anchored Protein COBRA in Plant Cell Wall Construction and Modification
3. Hormone Signalling and Microtubule Array Organization During Meristem Development
4. The Function of Microtubule Dynamics in Plant Resilience to… more

Sympathetic control of the circulation (Basic NSERC-funded stream)

Interventions to promote beneficial spinal plasticity following spinal cord injury (Health stream)

Acute hemodynamic management of spinal cord injury

The A1- and classical homotopy theory of algebraic groups, and their applications to algebra.