Sophie Claire Bastrup Woodruff comes into the NAD PhD programme with three goals: to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for her future as a researcher, to expand her professional network and to create an impactful and meaningful PhD project that contributes to our understanding of sex differences in psychiatry.
Throughout her academic career, Sophie Claire Bastrup Woodruff has been fascinated with the neurobiological underpinnings of behaviour and neuropsychopharmacology. Recently, her focus has shifted towards sex differences in psychiatry:
”[My interest in] sex differences in psychiatry is motivated by the long-standing gap in neuroscience resulting from the underrepresentation of female subjects in both preclinical and clinical research. In particular, I am very interested in researching the role of sex hormones and the menstrual cycle in modulating psychiatric symptoms and pharmacological response,” Sophie explains.
Sophie will do her first rotation in the Freude Lab at the University of Copenhagen where she will receive training in stem cell handling and research.
While originally from Denmark, Sophie completed her studies abroad, and her experience living in different countries has informed her approach to science:
“My experiences living and studying in different countries, and working in different laboratories, have shaped what I value in scientific practice, which are: collaboration, transparency, and reproducibility,” Sophie explains. “I particularly resonate with NAD’s collaborative spirit, and I look forward to integrating insights and expertise of different labs.”
With friends all over the world, Sophie naturally loves travelling. She also loves animals and spends time volunteering at animal shelters.