Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator: Dr. J. Brandon Dixon Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Professor Woodruff Faculty Fellow
Degrees: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2001 Dr. Brandon Dixon is a Professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow, as well as the current Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. Dr. Dixon joined Georgia Tech in 2009 as an Assistant Professor and has since grown his research laboratory which focuses on developing engineered approaches to understanding and treating diseases of the lymphatic system. Prior to Georgia Tech, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne in Switzerland doing research on lymphatic biology of lipid transport. Brandon received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2006 from Texas A&M University where he developed an imaging system for measuring lymphatic flow and estimating wall shear stress in contracting lymphatic vessels. He also received his bachelor’s degree from the same university in 2001. His research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, Gates Foundation, Department of Defense, the Georgia Research Alliance, the American Heart Association, and various private foundations. He is a recipient of the NSF Career Award and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award. He is also a co-founder of LymphaTech, a start-up launched from Georgia Tech focused on the development of diagnostic technologies for lymphedema. |
Current Lab Members
Research Faculty
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Zhanna Nepiyushchikh (2014 – present)Degrees: M.D., State Medical Academy, St. Petersburg, 1996 |
Post-docs
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Yarelis Gonzalez-Vargas (2019 – present)Degrees: Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024 B.S., Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, 2019 Hometown: Quebradillas, Puerto Rico Research Area: Lymphatic malformations, lymphangiogenesis, biomaterials, tissue engineering Email: ygonzale3@gatech.edu |
Graduate Students
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Young Jae Ryu (2020 – present)Ph.D. Student in Bioengineering (Mechanical Engineering) Research Area: Lymphatic biomechanics, computational modeling Email: yryu36@gatech.edu |
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Nishone Thompson (2022 – present)MD/Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering Research Area: Lymphangiogenesis, lymphatic endothelial cells Email: nthompson64@gatech.edu |
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Shao-Yun Hsu (2022 – present)Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering Research Area: Microsurgery, breast reconstruction, lymphedema, tissue engineering |
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Adam (2024 – present)Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering Research Area: Lymphatic therapy Email: ahernand35@gatech.edu |
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Mohammed Amin Mohammed Ali (2024 – present)Ph.D. Student in Bioengineering (Mechanical Engineering) Research Area: Lymphatic biomechanics, lymphedema therapy Email: mali86@gatech.edu |
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Mridul Anand (2023 – present)Masters Student in Bioinformatics Research Area: Multi-omic data analyses, genetics and genomics for precision medicine, lymphatic malformations Email: manand43@gatech.edu |
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Kiyoung Jeong (2022 – present)Masters Student in Chemical Engineering Research Area: Lymphatic gene delivery, lipid nanoparticle Email: kjeong36@gatech.edu |
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Wenjin Zhang (2025 – present)Masters Student in Biomedical Engineering Research Area: Lymphatic biomechanics, tissue engineering Email: wzhang766@gatech.edu |
Undergraduate Students
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Maya LeveilleB.S. Student in Biomedical Engineering Research Area: — Email: mleveille6@gatech.edu |
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Sophia Schumaecker (2023 – present)B.S. Student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Research Area: Lymphangiogenesis, tissue engineering, cancer immunology Email: sschumaecker3@gatech.edu |
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Mitchell Rice (2023 – present)B.S. Student in Mechanical Engineering Research Area: — Email: mrice66@gatech.edu |
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Research Technician
Kristen Binz (2017 – present)
Email: kristen.binz@me.gatech.edu
MS Students
Likhit Nayak (2018-2019), M.S. in Bioengineering, Current Position: Ph.D. in Bioengineering advised by Dr. Rudolph Gleason, Georgia Institute of Technology
Yanina Kuzminich (2018 – 2020), M.S. in Bioengineering, Current Position: Ph.D. in Bioengineering advised by Dr. James Dahlman, Georgia Institute of Technology
Ryan Akin (2012-2013), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Current Position: Consultant, Accenture