Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Spring 4-7-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

April 2026

Department

Biological Sciences

College Granting Degree

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Department Granting Degree

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Waseem Asghar

Abstract

Fertility has declined over the past decades, and male infertility is now recognized as contributing equally to the need for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). Current clinical sperm processing methods rely on multiple centrifugation steps, which are time- and labor-intensive and may be detrimental to spermatozoa. Therefore, improved methodologies are needed to select functional, healthy spermatozoa while mimicking natural sperm selection. Microfluidics has expanded in reproductive biology and offers an efficient approach to selecting spermatozoa based on progressive motility and rheotaxis—their natural ability to swim against a constant flow. In this study, I developed a rheotaxis-based microfluidic device to isolate highly motile spermatozoa and evaluated the overall quality of the isolated cells by assessing kinematic properties, morphology, functional maturity, oxidative status, and genomic integrity. The performance of the device was compared to ZyMōtä, Density Gradient Centrifugation (DGC), and Swim-Up methods, currently used in fertility clinics. The overall goal of my vii study was to develop a clinically applicable sperm selection method that improves sperm quality parameters. With infertility rates rising globally, optimizing the subpopulation of spermatozoa used for ART has become essential to improving the success of infertility treatment.

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