U2C: Futures in andrology
pICSI sperm selection – the answer for lower quality eggs?
Jackson Kirkman Brown, Professor of Human Reproductive Science, University of Birmingham and Chair, ARCS
Sperm selection with microfluidics
James M. Hotaling, Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology), University of Utah, USA
Presentation learning objectives:
- Understand how microfluidics will impact andrology.
- Describe the limitations of current sperm sorting techniques.
- Give evidence based recommendations on supplement use.
Dr Hotaling is the Director of Andrology Services at IVIRMA basking ridge and an Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology) at the University of Utah. He established the clinical male infertility program at IVIRMA and in Utah. He has over 200 publications and has had significant NIH funding to study men’s health and male infertility. He has also had multiple start-up companies related to men’s health and male infertility and has several patents. His work focuses on understanding how de novo mutations impact male infertility and its link to poor somatic health, microfluidic sperm sorting and the genetics of erectile dysfunction. He is the current president of the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) and an editor for Fertility & Sterility in addition to being the fellowship director for male infertility in Utah and the program director.
3D printing of testicular cells
Dr Ryan Flannigan, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada
Dr Ryan Flannigan is an Assistant Professor and surgeon-scientist in the Department of Urologic Sciences, at the University of British Columbia. He serves as the director of the male reproduction and sexual medicine research program at UBC as well as the fellowship director of the Infertility, Sexual Medicine & Microsurgery Training program. His REGENERative & Advanced Infertility Therapeutics (REGENERAIT) research program is focused on developing novel therapies for male infertility. His program is highly collaborative and are working toward building artificial intelligence technology solutions for sperm identification in azoospermic males. His program is also working to understand patient-specific cellular dysfunction in azoospermic men with sperm production deficiencies through single cell sequencing approaches to develop a precision medicine framework to treat these patients through regenerative therapies. To accomplish this, Dr. Flannigan’s team is also working to develop a 3D bioprinted platform using primary and iPSC-derived cells to establish a human in vitro model of spermatogenesis and therapeutic conduit for regenerating sperm for males that cannot produce sperm in vivo.