February 18, 2019
Stoney’s British Pub
7:30pm
Stoney’s British Pub
3007 Concord Pike
Wilmington DE
7:30pm
Paulo E. ArratiaMechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania
“Fluid Mechanics of Reproduction”
Successful conception requires that a mature sperm arrive at the site of fertilization. This journey is quite complex and necessitates coordinated activity of motile sperm cells, muscular contractions of the uterus and oviduct, as well as ciliary beating. In this talk, I will focus on an important but not often discussed part of the fertilization process, namely how sperm cells swim and interact with its environment as they progress from the insemination site through the cervix into the uterus. Recent developments in the field suggest that one can tune the environment to improve sperm motility and possibly fertilization rates.