University of Melbourne

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Helmholtz Munich

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University of Florida

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John Bromfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Florida. Dr. Bromfield’s laboratory focuses on infection & immunity in the female reproductive tract and its impact on fertility. Dr Bromfield studies disease, environmental stressors and physiological systems that involve the maternal immune system and its contribution to fertility in cattle. 

Newcastle University

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Geoff is academic with a research focus on male infertility. He is based at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he part of the globally recognised HMRI Infertility and Reproduction Program, who together investigate the biological factors contributing to infertility. Geoff's research aims to advance our understanding of sperm cell biology, how the environment impacts this cell type and why idiopathic infertility occurs in some men, all towards developing effective treatments, including new technologies for assisted reproduction. His contributions have advanced our appreciation of sperm oxidative stress and its key role in diminishing cell function and driving up the damage to their DNA cargo. In line with a key priority for the larger research program, Geoff is also leading advancements in understanding how environmental factors, such as low power wireless communication electromagnetic energy, can impact male fertility potential.

Aspect Research Centre for Autism Practice

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Dr Chris Edwards is a Research Fellow at Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia) and an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Inclusive Futures beacon at Griffith University. He serves as an Executive Committee member of the Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR) and a Non-Executive Director of Empower Autism. Chris, who is Autistic, has over 11 years' experience supporting the Autistic community across diverse roles. Chris completed his PhD through the Autism CRC in 2019. His research primarily focuses on education, mental health, and adult experiences related to autism. Chris has received multiple awards and accolades in recognition of his significant contributions to autism research and community engagement.

University of Melbourne

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David Potter is the ExoDev-Bioengineering project leader within the broader Tasmanian Tiger De-extinction project, TIGRR Lab, Andrew Pask’s group, University of Melbourne. David’s fundamental research focus is the development of novel biosythetic systems that will support ex vivo embryogenesis and foetal development as well as creating microfluidic based tools for embryo and foetal analyses. 

Macquarie University

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Dr Diana Tan (she/her) obtained her PhD in Psychology from the University of Western Australia in 2018 and has been working as an autism researcher for over 12 years. To date, she has attracted over 1.5 million dollars in funding, including a Macquarie University Research Fellowship and an ARC DECRA, focusing on understanding how Autistic students experience stigma, discrimination, and belonging in higher education.

Newcastle University

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Dr Natalie Trigg earned her PhD in 2021 from the University of Newcastle under Prof. Brett Nixon, studying the dynamics of sperm small RNAs and sperm-extracellular vesicle communication. Dr Trigg was then recruited to A/Prof. Colin Conine’s lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA where she identified the acquisition of a subset of microRNAs by sperm during epididymal transit and uncovered their function post-fertilization. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Hunter Medical Research Institute’s Infertility and Reproduction Program, Dr Trigg focuses on how sperm RNAs influence male fertility, embryo development, and offspring health contributing to our understanding of the importance of the paternal preconception period. 

Monash University

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A/Prof Jennifer Zenker’s scientific journey started at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), where she obtained her PhD in Neurobiology. Next stop was Australia, starting her PostDoc at EMBL Australia (Monash University), shortly followed by a move to Singapore to IMCB, A*STAR. During her Postdoc, A/Prof Zenker specialised on live imaging of early mouse embryos which led to several seminal discoveries, including first author publications in Science (2017), Cell (2018) and Nature Protocols (2017). She was also awarded three international postdoctoral fellowships, from the prestigious Human Frontier Science Fellowship, German and Swiss National Science Foundation. 

 
She then embarked as an independent group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI, Monash). Her research group contributed to the generation of iBlastoids (Nature, 2021) and discovered RNA asymmetries in early mouse embryos (Nature Communications, 2023). In 2019, she was awarded the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Scholarship. This was followed by an NHMRC Ideas Grant (2020) and an NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant (2021). As a real mark of her scientific excellence, A/Prof Zenker received the Sylvia&Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship and the Eduard Kellenberger Medal (2023).

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Monash University

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Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

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The Australian National University

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

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University of Adelaide

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The University of West Alabama

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Newcastle University

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University of Melbourne

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University of Melbourne

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Hudson Institute of Medical Research

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University of Otago

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