Born Slippy: Understanding the tribological mechanisms of fertility treatments and their impact on conception

Infertility affects 186M women in the developed world, with approximately 55M attributed to tubal patency - this is a big problem! Hysterosalpingography or HSG is a diagnostic procedure that is also an effective treatment for tubal problems. This multi-disciplinary project develops a novel automated, intelligent system for administering HSG - such that researchers can understand the underlying physics of the procedure and subsequent therapeutic benefits. This project is in collaboration with hospitals based in the UK and Netherlands and a University in Australia. The project is based in the state-of-the-art Tribology Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham and has access to a wide array of analytical equipment to support the investigation.

The aim of the project is to develop an understanding of the mechanisms involved surrounding the improvement of fertility rate through the injection of contrast as a diagnostic procedure by:

• Characterising the rheological, chemical and mechanical properties of contrasts commonly used in diagnostic treatments

• Characterising the mechanical properties of biological tissue involved in the process

• Using the characterised properties, develop a numerical simulation of the diagnostic procedure

• Create in-vivo and in-vitro experiments to validate

Successful completion of the project will establish a model for better understanding of what is occurring in the diagnostic test informing the development of future treatments.