WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON

Current Projects

Here we try to give you a flavour of some of our current research – you can find out more about our daily activities by following the ChRS page on linkedin

Gates Foundation

Determining sperm in vitro-assay thresholds for male infertility

To fertilize the egg, sperm must accomplish several complicated tasks and only acquire many of their skills once inside the female genital tract during a maturation process called capacitation. Activation of motility, swimming at low and high viscosity, capacitation, navigation, hyperactivation, acrosomal exocytosis, fusion with the egg, and egg activation are controlled by a network of mostly sperm-specific enzymes, ion channels, transporters, and receptors. These molecules represent ideal targets for novel non-hormonal contraceptives (NHC), however it is currently unknown what levels of pharmacological suppressants are required to achieve contraception.

This funding brings together three internationally leading teams and is coordinate by Professor Timo Strunker at the University of Munster; alongside our team in Birmingham; and the team of Professors Chris Barrat and Sarah Martins Da Silva in Dundee.

MAIN AIMS:

  • Establish a repertoire of highly standardized in vitro sperm-function assays 
  • Determine a comprehensive set of sperm-function parameters in up to 1,000 infertile and 1,000 fertile men using these assays 
  • Analyse whether/which parameter(s) differ significantly between sperm from infertile versus fertile men 
  • Identify cut-off values for these functional parameters, allowing to distinguish between sperm with high versus low/no potential to fertilize the egg 
  •  Elucidate the pathogenetics underlying the infertility and functional sperm defects in a fraction of the infertile men. 

UNITY Trial – UNexplained InfertiliTY treatment Trial

A randomised controlled trial evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of IVF versus IUI for unexplained infertility.

Infertility, defined as the failure to conceive after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sex, affects 1 in 7 couples in the UK, and unexplained infertility (UEI) affects 30% of infertile couples. The current UK treatment for UEI is in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Whilst IVF can overcome unexplained infertility in some couples, it is an invasive and expensive treatment, with associated procedures having potential side-effects and costing around £5000 per attempt. A less invasive, cheaper, alternative treatment is intrauterine insemination (IUI), where sperm are inserted into the uterus, increasing the chance of a sperm fertilising the egg. To address this question of whether 3 cycles of IUI is an appropriate alternative to one cycle of IVF for couples with UEI, in the ethnically, socially and economically diverse UK population, we have designed the UNITY Trial.

This multi-centre, multi-specialism trial will provide the rigorous evidence required to evaluate these treatment options; assessing value for money, feasibility, safety, appropriateness, and patient and ethical acceptability throughout the process. Patient and Public involvement will incorporate multilingual social media and infographic strategies to ensure the widest-possible audience and impact.

For more information about UNiTY and how to get involved email: unity@trials.bham.ac.uk

We currently have 15 sites across England taking party in UNiTY:

  • Birmingham Women’s Hospital
  • Chelsea & Westminster Hospital
  • University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire
  • Epsom & St Helier Hospital
  • Gateshead Fertility Unit
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Jessops Wing – Sheffield
  • Kings Fertility
  • Leicester Fertility Centre
  • Liverpool Women’s Hospital & Knutsford
  • St Marys Hospital, Manchester
  • Newcastle Fertility Centre
  • Shrewsbury & Telford
  • University College London Hospital
  • West Middlesex Hospital

Everything you need to know about the UNiTY clinical trial:

Unity trial explained

Unity what to expect

iCENC

Independent Centre for the Evaluation of Non-Hormonal Contraceptives

The development of novel non-hormonal contraception that act on sperm has been hampered by the lack of robust, standardized methods to evaluate the effect of candidate compounds on sperm function. Currently, the evaluation of sperm-targeting compounds is constrained by three major challenges. First, assessments based on small sperm samples inaccurately reflect the population; second, the lack of consensus across the field on how relate lab measurements into actual likelihood of conception; third, existing non-hormonal sperm-targeting compounds have no substantial data sets exploring effects with relation to clinical outcomes (e.g. fertilization in an IVF environment). These challenges collectively mean that the Contraceptive Drug Accelerator (CoDA) ecosystem is currently operating without standardized benchmarks or decision-making criteria

To address these needs we are setting up an Independent Sperm Expert Reference Centre (iSERC) for testing how provided compounds affect sperm fertilising capability; alongside providing consultation, best-practice sharing and reporting to de-risk development.

Find out more