Professor Hirst's research focuses on soft-condensed matter physics. This field of research includes the study of a wide range of everyday materials, biomedical applications and different phenomena in fluid dynamics and biomaterials. Some current research interests include cell membranes in viruses and the lungs, self-driven flows in biological fluids and self-assembly of biological protein filaments.
In general, her research group looks at fundamental phenomena using lab-based in-vitro experiments. The group is trained in a variety of different microscopy techniques, materials characterization methods and x-ray scattering - probing how matter is put together both in and out of the body!
In addition to her research interests Prof. Hirst is also the author of the interdisciplinary textbook, Fundamentals of Soft Matter Science.
