title: Exhaustion of racing sperm in nature-mimicking microfluidic channels during sorting.
abstract: Fertilization is central to the survival and propagation of a species, however, the precise mechanisms that regulate the sperm's journey to the egg are not well understood. In nature, the sperm has to swim through the cervical mucus, akin to a microfluidic channel. Inspired by this, a simple, cost-effective microfluidic channel is designed on the same scale. The experimental results are supported by a computational model incorporating the exhaustion time of sperm.
authors.affiliation: Bio-Acoustic-MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Center for Bioengineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Savas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tasoglu
authors.forename: Hooman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Safaee
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kingsley
authors.forename: Paolo N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: Umut Atakan
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Gurkan
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nureddin
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kayaalp
authors.forename: Raymond M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Anchan
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Maas
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tüzel
authors.forename: Utkan
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Demirci
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D002469:Cell Separation; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: biodesign; fertility; microfluidic sorting; sperm exhaustion; sperm sorting