Differential equation modelling to address male infertility

Infertility affects 1 in 6 couples, is emotionally devastating, and requires expensive and invasive treatments. Importantly, we place a significant and unequal burden on women, who often require risk-bearing procedures to address what is caused by, in 50% of cases, a male factor. Despite major progress in IVF and other assisted reproduction technologies, the analysis and treatment of male factor infertility lags behind. By taking an interdisciplinary approach – integrating computational mathematics and experimental imaging with clinical data – we are working to improving understanding of these widespread problems and ultimately develop new diagnostics and treatments for male infertility.

This project involves the development and evaluation of computational models to uncover how sperm beat their tails in a way that propels them efficiently through their journey to the egg. By modelling the interactions between the internal components of the tail, the elastic surrounding structures, and external fluid environment, we will investigate how the 3D motion of the sperm beat is generated and governs behaviour. This knowledge will improve our understanding of how sperm swim – the strongest selection mechanism for quality sperm in natural reproduction.

In this project you will use approaches that may include:

– Modelling with partial differential equations (PDEs)

– Numerical methods for solving PDEs

– Experiments on sperm to collect data (optional – with support)

– Image analysis of videos of sperm taken in the lab.

While having a base in the School of Mathematics, for this PhD project you will be working within an interdisciplinary Centre that bridges the gaps between computational, experimental and healthcare research. This will give you a unique opportunity to understand the clinical need through interactions with the Fertility Centre at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. This work will build naturally on the research expertise of the supervisor, who has significant experience creating computational and image analysis tools to develop the next generation of diagnostics and treatments for male-factor infertility.

Please get in touch for more information!