Josette Northcott, Ph.D. earned her doctorate degree from the University of Manitoba where she studied the role of the MEOX homeobox genes in the regulation of vascular endothelial cell function. Josette then went on to complete a postdoctoral position at the University of California, San Francisco where she investigated the effects of endothelial HOXA5 expression on breast cancer progression. In December 2015, Josette joined the Weaver lab where she is enthusiastically exploring the impact of tissue stiffness on epigenetic modifications and genomic instability in breast cancer.