A/Professor Reza Nosrati
A/Professor Reza Nosrati
Dr Nosrati’s research focuses on small-scale fluid mechanics (microfluidics and nanofluidics), with applications in fertility, cell biology, translational medicine, and environmental science. He is a pioneer in microfluidics for male fertility and assisted reproduction. His work has been highlighted several times in renowned journals such as Nature Reviews Urology, and featured routinely in news sources worldwide, including LA Times, The Herald Sun, Daily Mail, and The Scientist.
Dr Nosrati has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, including the 2023 Dean Award for Research Impact, the 2021 Newcastle Emerging Research Leader Award, the 2018 ROYAN International Research Award and the 2016 Douglas R. Colton Medal for his international contributions to Embryology and Andrology.
For information on available projects and openings, please visit the Applied Microfluidics and Bioengineering (AMB) Lab.
Qualifications
- Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto
- M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Tehran
- B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology
Research Interests
Fluidics for Health and the Environment
We engineer innovations for understanding biological systems at the single-cell level, and then we apply this knowledge to develop novel biomedical technologies for applications in health and environmental science. We combine our knowledge of microfluidics, optics, advanced microscopy, electrokinetics, cell biology, and translational medicine to carefully mimic, manipulate, and measure biology. The current areas of focus include sperm motility, Infertility, assisted reproduction, organ-on-a-chip, cancer diagnostics, microbe-based environmental remediation, and climate change. Some examples of our current and past research areas are listed below. Please visit the Applied Microfluidics and Bioengineering (AMB) Lab for more information.
Fertility
We are developing innovative microfluidic technologies for advanced understanding of fertilisation and studying the reproductive future of patients after cancer survival, with the potential to devise new diagnostic and therapeutic methods for infertility and oncofertility. This research program will produce state-of-the-art technologies for pharmaceutical applications in assisted reproduction and drug discovery.
Cell Motility
We are developing new methods to resolve the swimming characteristics of microswimmers, including sperm and bacteria, in confined environments and to understand their interaction mechanisms with physiochemical stimuli present in vivo or in their natural habitats.
Diagnostics
We are developing microfluidic technologies, particularly in paper-based formats, paired with emerging mobile health strategies for clinical and point-of-care diagnostics. This research program will result in simple, rapid, and low-cost platforms to offer new possibilities for accurate and early diagnosis and prevention of current health threats, such as cancer and infectious diseases.
Sensing
We are developing simple and low-cost biosensors for rapid and ultrasensitive detection of biochemical analytes. These sensing methods can directly detect trace concentrations of drugs, explosives, and pesticides, suitable for broad applications in environmental monitoring, forensic science, and medical diagnostics.
Selected Publications
14. Yazdan Parast, M.K. O’Bryan, R. Nosrati (2022) Sperm syringe: 3D sorting platform for assisted reproduction. Advanced Materials Technologies 7, 2101291.
[Covered by 7NEWS, 3AW Breakfast radio show, and ABC Sydney Afternoon radio show, and featured in news media worldwide including The Herald Sun, Healthcare Digital, UK Today, Monash Lens, The Medical Republic and Mirage News]
13. Gai, E. Dervisevic, C. Devendran, V. J. Cadarso, M. K. O’Bryan, R. Nosrati†, A. Neild† (2022) High-frequency ultrasound boosts bull and human sperm motility. Advanced Science 9, 2104362. † Co-corresponding authors
[Covered by 7NEWS and 9News, and featured in news media worldwide including Medical News and Mirage News]
12. Nosrati, D. Sinton (2022) How to select ICSI-viable sperm from the most challenging samples. Nature Reviews Urology 19, 135-136.
11. Nosrati (2022) Lab on a Chip devices for fertility: from proof-of-concept to clinical impact. Lab on a Chip 22, 1680-1689. Invited Perspective
[Featured in the themed collection: Lab on a Chip HOT Articles 2022]
10. Powar, F. Yazdan Parast, A. Nandagiri, A.S. Gaikwad, D. Potter, M.K. O’Bryan, R. Prabhakar, J. Soria, R. Nosrati (2022) Unravelling the kinematics of sperm motion by reconstructing the flagellar wave motion in 3D. Small Methods 6, 2101089.
9. Spencer, J. Fernando, F. Akbaridoust, K. Ackermann, R. Nosrati (2022) Ensembled deep learning for the classification of human sperm head morphology. Advanced Intelligent Systems 4, 2200111.
[Highlighted in Advanced Science News, “An artificial embryologist to improve the success of IVF”]
8. R. Raveshi, M. Abdul Halim, S.N. Agnihotri, M.K. O’Bryan, A. Neild, R. Nosrati (2021) Curvature in the reproductive tract alters sperm–surface interactions. Nature Communications 12, 3446.
[Featured in Nature Communications collection “Microfluidic Devices: Development and Application”]
[Featured in news media worldwide including Herald Sun, BioNews, scimex, medianet, and Mirage News]
7. B. You, C. McCallum, Y. Wang, J. Riordon, R. Nosrati, D. Sinton (2021) Machine learning for sperm selection. Nature Reviews Urology 18, 387-403.
6. Rismani Yazdi, R. Nosrati, C. Stevens, D. Vogel, P. Davies, C. Escobedo (2018) Magnetotaxis enables magnetotactic bacteria to navigate in flow. Small 14, 1702982.
[Featured on the front cover of this issue]
[Featured in Phys.org, EurekAlert, Science Daily, Nanowerk, and Queen’s gazette]
5. Nosrati, P. J. Graham, B. Zhang, J. Riordon, A. Lagunov, T. G. Hannam, C. Escobedo, K. A. Jarvi, D. Sinton (2017) Microfluidics for sperm analysis and selection. Nature Reviews Urology 14, 707-730.
[Featured on the home page of Nature Reviews Urology, December 2017]
[Top-6 Most Read Articles in Nature Reviews Urology in December 2017]
4. Nosrati, M. M. Gong, M. C. San Gabriel, Claudio E. Pedraza, A. Zini, D. Sinton (2016) Paper-based quantification of male fertility potential. Clinical Chemistry 62, 458-465.
[Featured in Editorial “Toward a microfluidics-based home male fertility test”, Clinical Chemistry 62, 421 (2016)]
[Featured in CSME Bulletin, ‘Paper-based device may lead to a home male infertility test’, Fall Issue (2016)]
[Featured in Daily Mail UK, The Sun, and Pembe Nar (Turkish)]
3. Nosrati, A. Driouchi, C. M. Yip, D. Sinton (2015) Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface. Nature Communications 6, 8703.
[Highlighted in Nature Reviews Urology, ‘Just keep swimming — sperm exhibit a 2D slither motion’,13, 2 (2016)]
[Featured in over 20 public news media worldwide including The Scientist, Tech Times, LA Times, Daily Mail UK, MSN News, The Star, Popular Science, The Sun, slate (French), Lentra (Russian), bild der wissenschaft (German), and sina (Chinese)]
2. M. Gong, R. Nosrati, M. C. San Gabriel, A. Zini, D. Sinton (2015) Direct DNA analysis with paper-based ion concentration polarization. Journal of the American Chemical Society 137, 13913-13919.
[Highlighted in ACS PressPac, Chemical & Engineering News, Science Daily, EurekAlert, Medical News Today, Health Medicinet, and The Medical News]
1. Nosrati, M. Vollmer, L. Eamer, M. C. San Gabriel, K. Zeidan, A. Zini, D. Sinton (2014) Rapid selection of sperm with high DNA integrity. Lab on a Chip 14, 1142-1150.
Selected Patents
5. F. Yazdan Parast, M.K. O’Bryan, R. Nosrati. An apparatus for separating micro-swimmers. Patent Application PCT/AU2022/051502, Filed 14 December 2022.
4. A. Neild, R. Nosrati, J. Gai, C. Devendran. Method and apparatus to boost sperm motility using high frequency ultrasound. Patent Application PCT/AU2022/051529, Filed 16 December 2022.
3. R. Nosrati, M. M. Gong, D. Sinton. Devices and methods for quantification of male fertility. U.S. Patent No. 10,852,298 (1 December 2020), Canada Patent No. 3003921 (26 May 2017).
2. R. Nosrati, L. Eamer, M. Vollmer, D. Sinton, A. Zini. Apparatus and method for sperm separation. U.S. Patent No. 9,663,755 (30 May 2017), Canada Patent No. 2834007 (19 May 2015), Brazilian Patent Application No. BR102014028937 (30 May 2017).
1. M. Gong, R. Nosrati, D. Sinton. Devices and methods for nucleic acid detection. U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/258,242 (20 November 2015).
Teaching Commitments
- MEC3602 - Biomedical Microsystems
- MEC5882/MEC6882 - Instrumentation, Sensing and Monitoring
- TRC4802 - Thermo-fluids and Power Systems