A Wodonga university lecturer believes there is a significant gender inequality within the medical field with treating infertile couples.
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And through her ongoing research into how sperm matures reproductive biologist and La Trobe University researcher Cathryn Hogarth hopes to better understand why male infertility rates continue to rise.
"A lot of the work I did before moving to La Trobe was working on how the sperm matures in the testis but now my focus is shifting a little bit to how the sperm matures within the epididymis, an organ attached to the testi," Dr Hogarth told The Border Mail.
"Cells start as a stem cell and that has to change and mature before it becomes a functional cell.
"It turns out that in that process vitamin A is really important and plays a role at multiple different steps into how a sperm mature.
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"Sperm are made within the testis but when it leaves the testis it isn't functional, it can't swim and can't fertilise an egg, it gets those two abilities after it is finished going through the epididymis - so it is a super important organ in terms of why a man is fertile."
Dr Hogarth believes the treatment available for infertile men is almost non-existent. "There is a inequality when it comes to treating infertile couples," she said.
"There has been a dramatic decrease in male fertility, especially in westernised countries in the last 40 years.
"The average sperm count had dropped by around 50 per cent. It is at a point where if that same trajectory continues in the next forty years the average male sperm count would hover just above what is considered fertile and that is not good.
"If you go to the clinic as an infertile couple there is a lot of testing that can be done on the woman such as whether she doesn't make eggs properly or if embryos can't implant in her uterus or if she has a problem with her ovaries.
"But that is really not the case with men - They will do a semen sample and do a sperm count and that is about it. What I am interested in and other researchers as well is finding out the basics about how sperm matures so we can better figure out why the increase in infertility is happening."
Dr Hogarth is also passionate about regional health care and believes through the university's growing biological science bachelor degree.
