PhD student Saleela Ruwanpura is in the running to win a prestigious medical research award.A NARRE Warren scientist is doing her bit to stop the decreasing national birth rate and is being honoured in the process.
PhD student Saleela Ruwanpura spends most of her day looking down a microscope at sperm in an attempt to discover what causes one in 20 Australian men to suffer from fertility problems.
Her outstanding efforts have earned Ms Ruwanpura one of only six nominations for the 2006 Serono SRB New Investigator Award. The 26-year-old PhD student at Prince Henry’s Institute in Clayton has spent the past two years investigating the complex role of hormones in sperm development and survival.
“We have found that if men don’t have the correct balance of hormones, their sperm cells die,” she said.
“We are trying to identify what proteins are causing these cells to be killed off in a bid to develop potential therapeutic outcomes for male infertility.”
Ms Ruwanpura said it was exciting to be recognised for her hard work, which she hoped would one day lead to men being able to regulate their own fertility.
“It is really empowering to study the hormones that affect male fertility, because at the moment it is regarded as a female health issue,” she said.
Ms Ruwanpura said her research into various medical issues was a labour of love and hoped it would one day pay off.
“Men will be the real winners out of this research,” she said.
The winner of the 2006 Serono SRB New Investigator Award will be announced at the Society for Reproductive Biology Conference on the Gold Coast next week.
