Cather Simpson

Cofounder, Engender

Search every verified Cather Simpson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Cather Simpson, a chemistry and physics professor at the University of Auckland and director of The Photon Factory, has described photonics as "the creation of light — the manipulation of light, detecting light and using light as a tool to do really important things," adding that "the 21st century is going to be the century of photonics." She has stated that the role of photonics in farming and food is to increase efficiency in harvesting energy from the sun. Simpson cofounded Engender Technologies, a company that uses microfluidics and photonics to sort sperm by sex for the dairy industry. She said the company originated after a dairy expert asked if she could help with problems facing the industry, and she asked four students to generate ideas without looking at existing methods. Simpson noted that currently about 3% of dairy cows use sexed semen, and she projected that in five years it could be half or more. Simpson also described a second spin-off company focused on analyzing the composition of milk from every cow at every milking without farmer intervention. She said the technology uses a disc-based platform similar to a CD player, with tests on the disc and an inexpensive reader at each milking station. The system can measure fat, protein, somatic cell count, and progesterone, and Simpson noted it is a platform that allows farmers to innovate by changing the disc as new tests become available. She stated that her lab has done roughly $30 million worth of work funded by government or industry to address real-world problems.