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Dr Fab Horta Nunez

Dr Fab Horta Nunez

Senior Lecturer
Medicine & Health
School of Clinical Medicine

Dr Fabrizzio Horta is a medical reproductive scientist who started his career as a research Andrologist. He has been involved in IVF as a clinical Andrologist, clinical embryologist and lately as Scientific Supervisor of R&D. He has undertaken studies in Medical Science, Medicine, Master of Clinical Embryology and PhD studies at Monash University in Melbourne, including a fellowship in molecular and clinical Andrology as well as training in biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship.
He currently works at UNSW lecturing for the master of reproductive medicine and developing research on biomarkers and non-invasive biomarkers of gamete and embryo quality, Infertility, Artificial Intelligence, reproductive genetics and technology innovation in Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

Additionally, he also consults as Scientific Advisor in reproductive genetics and innovation in assisted reproductive technologies.

Location
Level 4, Room 445 Wallace Wurth Building Botany Street Kensington NSW 2052 & Level 1 Royal Hospital for Women Barker Street Randwick NSW 2031
  • Book Chapters | 2022
    Castañeda V; Figueroa CA; Horta F; Vargas S; García A; Jara-Wilde J; Härtel S, 2022, 'Evaluation of Human SCD Test by Digital Image Analysis', in , pp. 69 - 82,
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Temple-Smith PD; Ravichandran A; Nunez FEH, 2018, 'Sperm: Comparative vertebrate', in Encyclopedia of Reproduction, pp. 210 - 220,
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Finkelstein T; Zhang Y; Vollenhoven B; Rolnik DL; Horta F, 2024, 'Successful pregnancy rates amongst patients undergoing ovarian tissue cryopreservation for non-malignant indications: A systematic review and meta-analysis', European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 292, pp. 30 - 39,
    Journal articles | 2024
    Vargas-Ordaz E; Newman H; Austin C; Catt S; Nosrati R; Cadarso VJ; Neild A; Horta F, 2024, 'Novel application of metabolic imaging of early embryos using a light-sheet on-a-chip device: a proof-of-concept study.', Hum Reprod,
    Journal articles | 2024
    Williams A; Popkiss S; Horta F; McLachlan R; Zander-Fox D; Green MP, 2024, 'Hyaluronan Sperm Selection during ICSI (HA-ICSI) Increases Embryo Utilization in Couples with Male Factor Infertility', Fertility & Reproduction, 06, pp. 28 - 36,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Cutting E; Horta F; Dang V; van Rumste MME; Mol BWJ, 2023, 'Intracytoplasmic sperm injection versus conventional in vitro fertilisation in couples with males presenting with normal total sperm count and motility', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2023,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Horta F; Salih M; Austin C; Warty R; Smith V; Rolnik DL; Reddy S; Rezatofighi H; Vollenhoven B; Horta Nunez F, 2023, 'Reply: Artificial intelligence as a door opener for a new era of human reproduction', Human Reproduction Open, 2023, pp. hoad045,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Salih M; Austin C; Warty RR; Tiktin C; Rolnik DL; Momeni M; Rezatofighi H; Reddy S; Smith V; Vollenhoven B; Horta F; Horta Nunez F, 2023, 'Embryo selection through artificial intelligence versus embryologists: a systematic review', Human Reproduction Open, 2023, pp. hoad031 - hoad031,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Vargas-Ordaz E; Newman H; Catt S; Nosrati R; Cadarso V; Neild A; Horta F, 2023, 'O-006 Novel and scalable non-invasive metabolic imaging of early embryos using a lab-on-a-chip approach', Human Reproduction, 38,
    Journal articles | 2022
    CUTTING E; MOL BW; VOLLENHOVEN B; CATT S; HORTA F, 2022, 'Effects of COVID-19 Quarantine Period on Fertility Patients and IVF Clinic Management Worldwide', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 180 - 180,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Cutting E; Catt S; Vollenhoven B; Mol BW; Horta F; Horta Nunez F, 2022, 'The impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on fertility patients and clinics around the world', Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 44, pp. 755 - 763,
    Journal articles | 2022
    HORTA F; NEWMAN H; VARGAS-ORDAZ EJ; CADARSO VJ; NOSRATI R; NEILD A; VOLLENHOVEN B; CATT S, 2022, 'Non-Invasive Metabolic Live Cell Imaging of Early Embryo Development Using Novel Adapted Confocal Microscopy in Ageing', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 187 - 187,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Horta F; Fernando D; Lantsberg D; Holden S; Katz DJ; Green MP; McLachlan R; Zander-Fox D; Rombauts L, 2022, 'Are Clinical Outcomes of Micro-TESE in Non-obstructive Azoospermic Men Affected by the Use of Fresh or Frozen Gametes?', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 67 - 76,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Horta F; Newman H; Vargas-ordaz E; Cadarso V; Nosrati R; Neild A; Vollenhoven B; Mercer S; Catt S, 2022, 'P-237 Non-invasive metabolic live cell imaging of early embryo development using adapted confocal microscopy; a safety study', Human Reproduction, 37,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Kellow NJ; Le Cerf J; Horta F; Dordevic AL; Bennett CJ; Horta Nunez F, 2022, 'The Effect of Dietary Patterns on Clinical Pregnancy and Live Birth Outcomes in Men and Women Receiving Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis', Advances in Nutrition, 13, pp. 857 - 874,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Newman H; Catt S; Vining B; Vollenhoven B; Horta F, 2022, 'DNA repair and response to sperm DNA damage in oocytes and embryos, and the potential consequences in ART: a systematic review', Molecular Human Reproduction, 28,
    Journal articles | 2022
    POPKISS S; HORTA F; VOLLENHOVEN B; GREEN MP; ZANDER-FOX D, 2022, 'Efficacy of Calcium Chloride Dihydrate Supplementation at ICSI on Patient Outcomes', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 207 - 207,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Popkiss S; Horta F; Vollenhoven B; Green MP; Zander-Fox D, 2022, 'Calcium chloride dihydrate supplementation at ICSI improves fertilization and pregnancy rates in patients with previous low fertilization: a retrospective paired treatment cycle study', Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 39, pp. 1055 - 1064,
    Journal articles | 2022
    ROMBAUTS L; HORTA F; HOLDEN S; KATZ D; GREEN M; ZANDER-FOX D, 2022, 'Are Clinical Outcomes of Microdissection Testicular Sperm Extraction in Non-Obstructive Azoospermic Men Affected by the Use of Fresh or Frozen Gametes?', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 158 - 158,
    Journal articles | 2022
    SOLE S; WILLATS E; GREEN M; ROMBAUTS L; KATZ D; ZANDER-FOX D; HORTA F, 2022, 'Is There an Increased Incidence of Aneuploid Embryos in Cases of Obstructive and Non-Obstructive Azoospermia?', Fertility & Reproduction, 04, pp. 210 - 210,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Vasilescu S; Lorimer J; Horta F; Warkiani M; Nosrati R, 2022, 'P-084 Novel Single-Step Microfluidic Chamber Outperforms Density Gradient Centrifugation in Post-Selection Motility And DNA Integrity', Human Reproduction, 37,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Cutting L; Catt S; Vollenhoven B; Mol BW; Horta F, 2021, 'P–790 Effects of COVID–19 quarantine period on Fertility Treatment and IVF Clinic management', Human Reproduction, 36,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Horta F; Ravichandran A; Catt S; Vollenhoven B; Temple-Smith P, 2021, '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', Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 38, pp. 55 - 69,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Horta F; Catt S; Ramachandran P; Vollenhoven B; Temple-Smith P, 2020, 'Female ageing affects the DNA repair capacity of oocytes in IVF using a controlled model of sperm DNA damage in mice', Human Reproduction, 35, pp. 529 - 544,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Ortega V; Oyanedel J; Fleck-Lavergne D; Horta F; Mercado-Campero A; Palma-Ceppi C, 2020, 'Macrozoospermia associated with mutations of AURKC gene: First case report in Latin America and literature review', Revista Internacional de Andrologia, 18, pp. 159 - 163,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Horta F; Vollenhoven B; Healey M; Busija L; Catt S; Temple-Smith P, 2019, 'Male ageing is negatively associated with the chance of live birth in IVF/ICSI cycles for idiopathic infertility', Human Reproduction, 34, pp. 2523 - 2532,
    Journal articles | 2017
    Horta F; Alzobi H; Jitanantawittaya S; Catt S; Chen P; Pangestu M; Temple-Smith P, 2017, 'Minimal volume vitrification of epididymal spermatozoa results in successful in vitro fertilization and embryo development in mice', Asian Journal of Andrology, 19, pp. 107 - 112,
    Journal articles | 2016
    F H; J C, 2016, 'Male Factor Infertility Outcomes Using Magnetic Activated Cell Sorting in Intra Citoplasmatic Sperm Injection Cycles', Andrology-Open Access, 05,
    Journal articles | 2014
    Horta F; Alzobi H; Jitanantawittaya S; Catt S; Chen P; Pangestu M; Temple-Smith P, 2014, 'Vitrification as a novel technique for the cryopreservation of epididymal spermatozoa for successful IVF and embryo development', Fertility and Sterility, 102, pp. e103 - e103,
    Journal articles | 2011
    Horta F; Madariaga M; García A; Hartel S; Smith R, 2011, 'Association of age with sperm DNA fragmentation', Revista Medica de Chile, 139, pp. 306 - 312,

  • 1.- Ferring Australia grant for $23,000 AUD for the study “Oocyte DNA repair capacity in infertile couples”. Chief investigator: Dr Fabrizzio Horta. Associate investigator: Dr Sally Catt, A/Prof Peter Temple-Smith and Prof Beverley Vollenhoven. November 2019.

  • 2.- Monash IVF grant for $35,000 AUD for the study “Which factors are associated with recurrent implantation failure?”. Chief investigator: Dr Fabrizzio Horta. Associate investigator: Prof Ben W Mol, Dr Sally Catt, A/Prof Peter Temple-Smith and Prof Beverley Vollenhoven. December 2019.

  • 3.- Monash IVF grant for $25,000 AUD for the study “Novel methods of cryopreservation of ovarian tissue”. Chief investigator: Dr Sally Catt. Dr Fabrizzio Horta, Dr Kiri Bielby, A/Prof Peter Temple-Smith and Prof Beverley Vollenhoven. November 2019.

  • 4.- International Ferring COVID-19 investigational grant in reproductive medicine and maternal health for $8,500 AUD for the study “Incidence of natural conception in infertile couples schedule for ART treatment during fertility clinic COVID-19 in Australia/New Zealand”. Chief investigator: Dr Fabrizzio Horta, Elizabeth Cutting, Prof Ben W Mol. June 2020.

  • 5.- Non-invasive metabolic imaging of oocytes and early embryo development. Chief investigators: Dr Fabrizzio Horta, Dr Sally Catt, Prof Beverley Vollenhoven, Prof Adrian Neild, Dr Reza Nosrati, Dr Victor Cadarso. FSANZ grant awarded ($35,000 AUD),

  • 6.- Machine learning for Clinical Decision support in in-vitro fertilisation. Chief investigators: Dr Fabrizzio Horta, Dr Hamid Rezatofighi, Dr Sally Catt, Prof JianFei Cai, Prof Beverley Vollenhoven. Monash Data Future Institute grant awarded ($50,000 AUD).

  • 7.- Assessing the clinical impact of pharmacogenomics in IVF using a novel clinical decision support system integrating whole genome sequencing and artificial intelligence. Vollenhoven, B.,Smith M M, V.,Horta, F., Sacks, G., Coman, D. J., Gardner, D.,Wang, R., Lin, H., Bi, M., Stocker, S. L., Grosser, M., Tipper, S. & Venter, D. J. TheMedical Research Future Fund(MRFF), NHRMC. $2,959,360 AUD + partner contribution of $2.208M (23Strands + Virtus Health).

  • 8.- Non-invasive metabolic IVF, a novel strategy to revolutionise infertility treatments. Dr Fabrizzio Horta, A/Prof Victor Cadarso & Prof Adrian Neild. Monash Institute of Medical Engineering Seed Fund grant, Nov 2023 $50k.

  • 9.- Exploring Artificial intelligence for automating variant curation and big data linkage in reproductive genetics; towards preconception precision medicine in assisted reproductive technologies. Horta, F., Alinejad-Rokny, H.,Marzbanrad, F.,Lorber Rolnik, D., Shrestha, J., Venter, D. & Lin, H. $122.5K.

Total grants funding: $3,308,360 AUD

  • The best student of Medical Technology in 2005, Diego Portales University. Santiago, Chile. $500 AUD
  • Chilean master scholarship “Becas Chile para cursar magister en el extranjero” CONICYT, Ministerio de Educación, Gobierno de Chile, 2012. $80,000 AUD
  • Chilean PhD scholarship “Becas Chile para cursar doctorado en el extranjero” CONICYT, Ministerio de Educación, Gobierno de Chile, 2016 (not used).
  • Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS) for stipends during PhD studies, 2016.Total funding: $105,000 AUD
  • Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MIPRS) PhD studies, 2016.
  • Faculty Graduate Research International Scholarship (FGRIS), for PhD studies, 2016.Total funding: $135,000 AUD
  • Scientist in Reproductive Technologies (SIRT) Student Travel Award ($500), 2017.
  • Scientist in Reproductive Technologies (SIRT) Student Travel Award ($500), 2018.
  • Best oral presentation Student/Early career researcher, SIRT-Midyear meeting worth in $2000 AUD, May 2018.
  • Best research presentation at EPRD 30-year symposium, Alumnae meeting, Prato, Italy, worth in $1000 AUD July 2018.
  • Best oral presentation in conference Niuvida, Lima, Peru, 2018, worth in 1000 USD.
  • Monash University Postgraduate Travel Award ($2,000), 2019.
  • Award worth $8,000 AUD towards obtaining “Certificate in Bio-innovation and entrepreneurship in biomedical science”, SPARK program, University of Technology of Sydney, September 2019.
  • Monash Postgraduate Publication Award ($4,924), 2020.
  • Monash accelerator program Pitch award ($2,000), 2020.
  • Young Investigator Award ASPIRE conference ($700) April 2022.
  • ARCS exchange session prize at SIRT/FSANZ conference ($5,000), July 2022.
  • Fellowship FMNHS ECR award $35,000
  • Outstanding Young researcher award. A microsystem for non-invasive imaging and simultaneous multi-biomarker 3d imaging. Erick J. Vargas-Ordaz, Terrance Lam, Bonan Liu, Fabrizzio Horta, Michelle L. Halls, Adrian Neild, and Victor J. Cadarso. July 2023, Kyoto, Japan.
  • Best overall presentation, Melbourne emerging leaders in biomedical research, August 2023. $0.4K
  • Finalist in David Healey award session, SRB Conference 2023, Brisbane, Australia, Nov 2023. $0.5k

Total awards funding: $390,024 AUD