I am a Crick-UCL Collaboration PhD student working between the research groups of Nic Tapon at the Crick and Guillaume Charras at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London.

I am interested in how protein localisation, structure and function changes in the physical environment such as when cells experience varying forces.

Throughout my PhD, I investigate the shuttling dynamics of the mechanosensitive protein YAP to discern the mechanisms of growth control. My work involves stretching cell monolayers as well as monitoring cell growth and scattering to track how the YAP protein localisation changes upon different mechanical stimuli. 

For more information on my current work and/or research interests in biophysics, mechanobiology, cell and structural biology, you can follow me on twitter! - @WindieHoefs