Professor Brett Nixon is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and co-Director of the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science.  Over his career, Brett has conducted research activity at the basic biology / clinical andrology interface, gaining international recognition for his mechanistic insights into how spermatozoa acquire the functional competence to engage in fertilisation, and how this process becomes so dramatically disrupted in cases of male infertility. More recently, his research has expanded to determine the mechanisms by which environmental exposures impact sperm quality. This research has broad application for the diagnosis of sperm dysfunction and the design of novel therapeutic intervention strategies to alleviate the burden of male infertility.