Rate My Professor Catherine Boisvert

Associate Professor Catherine Boisvert serves in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University, where she holds the position of Director of Graduate Research. She obtained her MSc in Biology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and her PhD from Uppsala University in 2009, focusing her doctoral research on the origin of tetrapod limbs and girdles through fossil and developmental evidence. Following her PhD, she worked as a Research Fellow at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University from 2012 to 2015. Since 2016, she has been a Curtin Research Fellow at Curtin University, progressing to her current role as Associate Professor. Her career emphasizes integrative approaches in paleontology, developmental biology, and comparative morphology to explore vertebrate evolution.

Catherine Boisvert is an evolutionary developmental biologist specializing in the origin of the jawed vertebrate body plan. She combines developmental studies of modern sharks, including elephant sharks and catsharks, with examinations of exceptionally preserved fossils from the Devonian Gogo Formation to understand the evolution of vertebrate morphology. Her research addresses morphological transformations during key evolutionary events, such as the fish-tetrapod transition and the diversification of early tetrapods and amphibians. Notable publications include 'The pectoral fin of Panderichthys and the origin of digits' (Nature, 2008), 'The pelvic fin and girdle of Panderichthys and the origin of tetrapod locomotion' (Nature, 2005), 'The ancient origins of neural substrates for land walking' (Cell, 2018), 'Fossil musculature of the most primitive jawed vertebrates' (Science, 2013), 'Pelvic and reproductive structures in placoderms (stem gnathostomes)' (Biological Reviews, 2015), and 'Exceptional preservation of organs in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo lagerstätte' (Science, 2022). With over 1,279 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions have advanced insights into early vertebrate locomotion and anatomy. She holds the Curtin Research Fellowship and leads graduate research initiatives in her school.