Postgraduate Studentship on The role of hyperactivated motility and fluid mechanics in human fertility - Uiversity of Oxford

Postgraduate Studentship

The role of hyperactivated motility and fluid mechanics in human
fertility

Department of Mathematics

STUDENTSHIP covers fees (University and College) and maintenance.

Applications are invited for a postgraduate studentship, funded by the
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Global Research
Partnership [KAUST GRP], to work on human sperm dynamics, in particular
"The role of hyperactivated motility and fluid mechanics in human
fertility" under the supervision of Dr Eamonn Gaffney. This DPhil
studentship will start on 1 October 2009, is available to all
nationalities, covers maintenance and full overseas fees and will be
based in the newly established Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied
Mathematics (OCCAM).

OCCAM has been established with substantial funding from the KAUST GRP.
The Centre, which is part of the Mathematical Institute, will be allied
to a global network of mathematicians. Aiming to meet the
ever-increasing global demand for quantitative understanding of complex
scientific phenomena, OCCAM has been built on the strength of four
pre-existing groups of applied and computational mathematicians working
in Oxford: the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the
Centre for Mathematical Biology, the Numerical Analysis Group and the
Computational Biology Group. It has a symbiotic relationship with other
scientific communities which have a need for problem-solving mathematics
both within the University of Oxford and beyond. Over the first five
years the centre will employ 40 new staff and students.

The accumulation of human sperm cells at boundaries is ubiquitous in the
laboratory setting, and is therefore likely to influence the path of a
sperm during its passage along the female reproductive tract. However,
very little is known about the details of such mechanics especially how
it is affected by surface topographies. This is despite the fact that
sperm have to navigate increasingly convoluted surfaces and folds along
the human fallopian tubes, creating a very complex geometry on the
journey towards an egg. Sperm found in the vicinity of an egg are
hyperactivated, which is characteristed by high amplitude tail beating.
This has led to the hypothesis that hyperactivation is necessary to
prevent excessive sperm trapping within crypts of the fallopian tubes.

Consequently, the initial aim of this project is to use high speed
imaging in the classification of hyperactivated human sperm motility
using kinematic and biophysical parameters. This will require a limited
amount of experimental work in the laboratories of collaborators at The
University of Birmingham. The subsequent aim will be to develop models
of hyperactivated human sperm, using the imaging data to ensure typical
beat patterns are correctly represented. We will then investigate the
mechanisms and mechanics by which sperm progress across convoluted
topographies and escape from fallopian tube crypts. Such studies will
require cutting-edge mathematical and computational modeling in the
areas of low Reynolds number flows and filament-fluid interactions.

The collaborators involved in this project are Professor JR Blake (
Mathematics, University of Birmingham), and Dr J. Kirkman-Brown and Dr
DJ Smith (Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Birmingham &
the Centre for Human Reproductive Science, Birmingham Women's NHS
Foundation Trust, U.K.)

The studentship is attached to Brasenose College.

For information about OCCAM please visit our website:
www.maths.ox.ac.uk/occam

Applications can be made online at
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/apply/how_to_apply.html and
should include a CV, covering letter, three references and a transcript
of your undergraduate degree. Alternatively, applications can be sent to
Margret Sloper at the Mathematical Institute using the University's
application form for graduate study, which can be downloaded from the
above link. Applications must arrive by end of day Friday 27th February
2009. The reference for this application is BK/08/059; make sure that
you state this in the covering letter. Applicants must arrange for their
referees to send references directly to the Graduate Studies Assistant
(fax or e-mail is sufficient) by the closing date. For further details
about the projects, including the application process, please see the
Further Particulars link below, or contact Graduate Studies, email
graduate.studies@maths.ox.ac.uk