Abstract

Mechanical characterization of biological cells appeared recently as a new tool for diagnostics. Cell mechanical properties are now well known to change based on the health condition of the cell enabling using it as a biomarker. In the first part of my talk, I will describe how we used mechanical deformability of endometrial cells as a biomarker for Endometriosis, a medical disorder affecting 10% of women in their reproductive age. The microfluidic platform we developed enables fast screening of endometriosis by measuring the travel speed and deformability of endometrial cells inside a narrow microchannel. In the second part of my talk I will describe how rheotaxis, the ability of spermatozoa to swim against the flow, can be used as a biomarker for infertility. Rheotaxis was recently reported as a new navigation mechanism to guide sperm cells towards the oocyte in the female reproductive system. Using microfluidics, we were able to study motion of spermatozoa inside microchannels and relate their rheotactic behavior to male infertility.

Biography

Dr. Mohamed Abdelgawad is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. He received his PhD in mechanical engineering from University of Toronto, Canada, in 2009. Prior to joining AUS, Dr. Abdelgawad was with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Assiut University, where he established the first microfluidics lab in Egypt. Throughout his research, Dr. Abdelgawad collaborated with colleagues from the faculties of medicine, pharmacy and veterinary medicine to develop microfluidic devices for different biomedical applications. Dr. Abdelgawad research interests include mechanical characterization of biological cells, sperm swimming behavior, nanoparticle synthesis, and studying the fundamentals of fluid flow on the microscale.