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
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