Katherine Loveland

NHMRC Senior Research Fellow

Testis Development and Male Germ Cell Biology Research Group Head

Head, Centre for Reproductive Health, Hudson Institute of Medical Research

Head, Postgraduate Research, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University

Honorary Professor, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Germany

Kate is recognised internationally for her research into the mechanisms that underpin testis development and germ cell differentiation. Her research has demonstrated key switches in the molecules that regulate cell fate decisions, including via the TGFbeta superfamily, Hedgehog and Wnt signaling pathways. Her collaborative research on intracellular signaling molecules relating to nucleocytoplasmic transport and Snail transcription factors has identified new mechanisms by which spermatogenesis is regulated.

Professor Loveland has active collaborations with research groups around Australia, in Denmark, USA and Japan, which underpin the work of her research team. She holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship. In 2004 she received the American Society for Andrology Award, their highest distinction for a developing researcher, and was recognised in 2018 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction with the Fuller W. Bazer International Scientist Award.  In 2010, she received the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research Supervision, and she has had more than .  She is currently the Monash academic co-leader of a joint-PhD training program with Justus-Liebig University (2013-2022), in which up to 30 students are being trained in the Molecular Pathogenesis of Male Reproduction, and holds the Liebig Professorship in recognition of this role.

Professor Loveland is an an editor for several specialist journals and is active in the Society for Study of Reproduction and the American Society for Andrology. She has over 150 publications that reflect her keen interest in discovering how cells change from one state of differentiation to the next in normal development and in pathological conditions.