Jennifer Hou
Department of Physics

Jennifer Hou is a Ph.D. student in Physics at Harvard University, studying biophysics in Prof. Adam Cohen's group.

Jennifer graduated with an A.B. summa cum laude in Chemistry and Physics, and an A.M. in Physics from Harvard in 2006. During this time, Jennifer worked on a range of research projects on campus and in industrial research labs, from organic thin film transistors to the evolution of hemoglobin. In 2004, she participated in the Harvard MRSEC REU, conducting research with Dr. Nadya Mason and Prof. Michael Tinkham on the metallic-superconducting transition in 2D thin films. After undergrad, she then completed a one-year M.Phil. at the University of Cambridge in Computational Biology under the Keasbey Fellowship. There she worked with Dr. Sarah Teichmann of the Laboratory for Molecular Biology on the evolution of transcription factor binding sequences.

Her research in Adam Cohen's laboratory focuses on active mechanisms of soft materials in vitro and in vivo. She studied gel/enzyme systems and found that motion could be induced by asymmetric enzymatic degradation of hydrogels. Currently, she is looking at embryonic zebrafish hearts, where the mechanical and electrical properties are constantly in flux. Using fluorescent reporters of voltage and calcium, Jennifer uses imaging to understand the interplay between ions during early heart development.

During her graduate career, Jennifer has also been active in mentoring and teaching undergraduates. She has been a resident tutor in one of the undergraduate dorms for four years, and also taught and served as a Teaching Fellow in the Introductory Physics course and during the inaugural year of the General Education course on "Science and Cooking".