Rate My Professor Natalie Trigg

Dr. Natalie Trigg is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia, within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. She completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology in 2015 and a PhD in Biological Sciences in 2021, both from the University of Newcastle, with her doctoral research investigating the influence of environmental exposures on the sperm epigenome. After her PhD, she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Associate Professor Colin Conine’s laboratory at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from August 2021 to May 2024, acquiring expertise in assisted reproductive techniques such as embryo microinjection, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and embryo transfer, as well as RNA cloning and sequencing for small RNAs and mRNAs. Returning to the University of Newcastle in 2024, she now leads research on the paternal contribution to embryo and offspring development as part of the Infertility and Reproduction Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Her research specializations encompass male fertility, preconception health, reproductive biology, small RNAs, and sperm biology. Fields of research include reproduction, animal developmental and reproductive biology, and biochemistry and cell biology.

Dr. Trigg has authored publications in leading journals, including first-author articles in Cell Reports such as 'Epididymal acquired sperm microRNAs modify post-fertilization embryonic gene expression' (2024) and 'Acrylamide modulates the mouse epididymal proteome to drive alterations in the sperm small non-coding RNA profile and dysregulate embryo development' (2021), a co-first-author paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 'Subchronic elevation in ambient temperature drives alterations to the sperm epigenome and accelerates early embryonic development in mice' (2024), and 'Curating fertility—proteomic remodelling of sperm during epididymal transit' in Reproduction (2026). With over 650 citations and an h-index of 12, she is an emerging leader in reproductive biology. Awards include the 2025 SRB Career Development Award ($4,913), Lalor Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships (2022-2023 and 2023-2024, totaling $170,000), and a CHOP Travel Grant (2022, $1,100). She serves as Early Career Researcher representative for the Society for Reproductive Biology and the HMRI Infertility and Reproduction Research Program, and has given invited talks including 'The paternal RNA contribution to the embryo and offspring' in 2025.