Members

Kate Kitagawa specializes in space education and is currently a Professor of Practice in Space Research and Education at La Trobe University, as well as a Program Lead for Space Biology at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science in Melbourne, Australia.

Before taking on her current roles, Kate was an advisor to the Senior Vice President of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and served as Director of JAXA's Space Education Office. As Director, she led the development of digital learning modules and collaborated with creative studios to produce innovative educational tools. Additionally, Kate chaired the International Space Education Board (ISEB) at the 2023 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Azerbaijan, a global initiative involving NASA, JAXA, CSA, ESA, KARI, AEM, and other agencies.

With a multidisciplinary background in mathematics and life sciences (B.Sc., University of British Columbia) and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University, Kate brings over a decade of teaching and research experience at universities across the US, UK, Germany, and South Africa. She is the co-author of The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics & Its Unsung Trailblazers, which was shortlisted for the 2024 British Academy Book Prize. Kate also occasionally works as a broadcaster, appearing on television, online news, and in documentary films to share her expertise on science, history, and space.

Find out more about Professor Kitagawa's research.

Dr Johnson is a senior lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment and located in the AgriBio building. Dr Johnsons research within the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food aims to optimize crops for different environments. Her work looks at the cell wall, the 'skeleton' of the plant that influences how plants are used for food, fuel and textiles.  Dr Johnson studies the pathways that change the cell wall in response to physical signals that arise during growth and/or in response to environmental stress.  Dr Johnson graduated from the University of Melbourne, has worked in leading plant research institutes in the UK, and is passionate about communicating the importance of STEM in agriculture to make the way we eat more sustainable and enjoyable.

Find out more about Associate Professor Johnson's research.

I am interested in the surfaces of semiconductor crystals, particularly diamond, and how they react to the world around and within us. My research involves coating these surfaces with organic and metallo-organic compounds observing the change their electrical and optical properties, particularly in ways which can be useful for engineering implantable biosensors for medical assays.

My other interest springs from a deep commitment to the dissemination of knowledge through teaching, which I regard as a process of coaching. This includes research into ways of making this coaching possible (and efficient) in a mass tertiary education system, primarily through combining the modern educational psychology with information technology.

Find out more about Dr Hoxley's research.

Evan Robertson is an expert in molecular spectroscopy, having published 100 peer-reviewed papers. His group exploits powerful light sources such as infrared, visible and ultraviolet lasers, or the Australian Synchrotron's infrared beamline, to study molecules relevant to pharmaceutics, atmospheric and aerosol chemistry and even the interstellar medium.

Evan Robertson’s PhD at Monash University (1993-95) was followed by postdoctoral work at University of Oxford (1996-2000), Logan and ARC research fellowships (2001-2005) and a lectureship (2006-2009) at Monash University, and appointment as an academic at La Trobe University in 2009.

Find out more about Associate Professor Robertson's research

I am a hands-on lab biologist turned data-crunching genome scientist. My lab studies how plants perceive the world around them and interact with their environments by regulation of their genomes. We apply this work with commercial partners who grow a range of agricultural crops including cannabis, opium poppies, barley, oats and peas.

Find out more about Professor Lewsey's research.

Professor Patrick Humbert is the Director of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Sciences (LIMS).  Patrick is a recognized international leader in cancer research with PhD training in immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, and postdoctoral training in genetics and cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA. Patrick led a lab for over 15 years at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, before becoming La Trobe University’s inaugural Professor of Cancer Biology in 2016. In 2018, Patrick established and became Director of the Research Centre for Molecular Cancer Prevention at La Trobe University. Patrick has received multiple awards including a Merck Fellowship, Special Fellowship of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, and consecutive Career Development Fellowships and Senior Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Patrick’s current research include investigating the molecular mechanisms of tissue architecture in cancer and regeneration, developing the therapeutic targeting of tissue disorganisation for cancer prevention, identifying the evolutionary origins of cancer in the first multicellular animals, and characterising the effects of space and microgravity environments on regeneration and cancer progression.

Find out more about Professor Humbert's research