Research Interests

motile cilia, fluid mechanics, biophysics, protists, cilia coordination and dynamics

Kirsty Y. Wan is professor of cellular and biophysical dynamics at the Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, UK, where she heads an interdisciplinary group researching the biophysics of microscale navigation, with particular emphasis on the motility and coordination of cilia. She obtained her PhD in biological physics from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, where she also held a Thomas Nevile Junior Research Fellowship at Magdalene College. She leads several externally funded projects (related to cilia) including an ERC starting grant (on basal cognition in diverse protists), an ARIA project on physical embodiment in ciliated protists, and a Wellcome Discovery consortium (UNICIL) on unity and diversity of multiciliary function across scales.