Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Sally works in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as a Senior Lecturer.
Biography
Sally completed her first degree at Edinburgh University in 1983 and after working as a reproductive
toxicologist, she took her first job as an embryologist at Bourn Hall, Cambridge UK, training under Mr.
Patrick Steptoe and Professor Bob Edwards. She then worked as an embryologist specialising in the
commercialisation of cattle IVF, first in Cambridge (ABC Technologies) and then in Palmerston North, New
Zealand (DSIR).
In the early 1990s she moved to the University of Sydney, Australia where she initially set up a domestic
and laboratory species IVF facility. In 1991, she was awarded a Meat Research Corporation Junior
Fellowship and used this to complete a PhD evaluating the feasibility and commercial practicality of
producing lambs following X and Y sperm separation by flow cytometry using in vivo and in vitro
methodologies.
She then returned to the clinical IVF field working as an embryologist and Scientific Director at Fertility
First, Sydney. She later joined Sydney IVF where she was the inaugural member of their research division.
At Sydney IVF she refined the media development, studied novel methods for PGD testing, initiated
research into the use of embryonic stem cells and tested the efficacy of vitrification of embryos and
oocytes. Following her research, vitrification was adopted in some Sydney IVF clinics from 2004, and has
now been taken on as the method of choice for all embryo cryopreservation cases in this clinic, and most
clinics worldwide. In 2004, she joined Prof. Helen Picton in Leeds University, UK as a Research Fellow
studying the growth of ovine pre-antral follicles and the subsequent maturation and fertilisation of their
oocytes.
Sally has been in her current role of Coordinator of the Master of Clinical Embryology Course since 2006,
she also coordinates the Assisted Reproduction and Technologies Unit in the Graduate Diploma in
Reproductive Sciences course and overseas industry-led specialized IVF short-courses and observerships.
In 2009, she was elected as a SIRT Committee Member (the Scientist sub-group of the Fertility Society of
Australia (FSA)) and remains the Education Coordinator within this group. In 2012, she was instrumental in
introducing a nationwide CPD scheme for clinical embryologists in SIRT. She is also a member of the
“Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) Advisory Panel”. She
was voted onto the Fertility Society of Australia board, and took up the role in September 2019.
Education/Academic qualification
Assisted reproductive Technologies, PhD, University of Sydney
1 May 1994 → 1 Aug 1997
Award Date: 12 Jan 1998
External positions
PhD supervisor, Central Queensland University
7 Jul 2014 → 7 Jul 2018
Research area keywords
- vitrification
- IVM
- ovarian cryopreservation
- manipulation of embryos
Network
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Improving embryo selection in IVF treatments through incorporating novel non-invasive live-cell metabolic imaging of embryos using adapted confocal microscopy: a live birth safety study
Horta Nunez, F., Catt, S., Vollenhoven, B., Pangestu, M., Mol, B., Neild, A., Nosrati, R. & Cadarso Busto, V.
Monash University – Internal Department Contribution
29/01/22 → 30/08/23
Project: Research
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Which factors are associated with repeated implantation failure in couples undergoing IVF/ICSI?
Horta Nunez, F., Vollenhoven, B., Mol, B., Hunt, S., Temple-Smith, P. & Catt, S.
1/07/20 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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Oocyte DNA repair capacity as a novel marker for idiopathic infertility in assisted reproductive technologies
Horta Nunez, F., Catt, S., Vollenhoven, B. & Temple-Smith, P.
1/01/20 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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DNA repair and response to sperm DNA damage in oocytes and embryos, and the potential consequences in ART: a systematic review
Newman, H., Catt, S., Vining, B., Vollenhoven, B. & Horta, F., Jan 2022, In: Molecular Human Reproduction. 28, 1, 14 p., gaab071.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Employer-Sponsored Egg Freezing: Carrot or Stick?
Johnston, M., Fuscaldo, G., Richings, N. M., Gwini, S. M. & Catt, S., 2022, In: AJOB Empirical Bioethics. 13, 1, p. 33-47 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Financing future fertility: Women's views on funding egg freezing
Johnston, M., Fuscaldo, G., Gwini, S. M., Catt, S. & Richings, N. M., Mar 2022, In: Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online. 14, p. 32-41 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus) -
Ageing and ovarian stimulation modulate the relative levels of transcript abundance of oocyte DNA repair genes during the germinal vesicle-metaphase II transition in mice
Horta, F., Ravichandran, A., Catt, S., Vollenhoven, B. & Temple-Smith, P., Jan 2021, In: Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. 38, 1, p. 55-69 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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A major increase in oocyte cryopreservation cycles in the USA, Australia and New Zealand since 2010 is highlighted by younger women but a need for standardized data collection
Johnston, M., Richings, N. M., Leung, A., Sakkas, D. & Catt, S., 18 Feb 2021, In: Human Reproduction. 36, 3, p. 624-635 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
8 Citations (Scopus)