Meghan Robinson
Lab Manager
The Reproductive & Sexual Medicine Centre
The RSM Centre advances male reproductive and sexual health through cutting-edge care, education, research, and technology. It focuses on personalized treatments, groundbreaking discoveries, and innovation to transform patient outcomes and the field as a whole.
Our Mission & Vision
Our Mission
Our mission is to advance research, education, and treatment of sexual and reproductive disorders. By accelerating discovery and translational science, we aim to enhance patient access, improve care, and achieve better health outcomes.
Our Vision
The Reproductive & Sexual Medicine Centre (RSM) aims to expand innovative clinical, surgical, educational, and research programs in sexual and reproductive medicine. Our focus is on developing paradigm-shifting technologies and therapies to enhance patient care and outcomes.
Overview
The RSM Centre is committed to advancing male reproductive and sexual health through exceptional clinical care, education, innovative research, and technological innovation. By integrating expertise in medicine, science, and technology, the Centre delivers state-of-the-art treatments, conducts groundbreaking research, and strives to improve patient outcomes. With a focus on personalized care and scientific discovery, the RSM Centre aims to transform the field of male reproductive and sexual health.
Research
The RSM Centre is actively engaged in clinical, translational, and basic science research focused on male reproduction and sexual medicine. Our multidisciplinary efforts encompass advanced biological, computational, engineering and therapeutic approaches aimed at improving reproductive and sexual health.
Male Reproduction
Our research in male reproduction emphasizes innovative strategies to address non-obstructive azoospermia.
- Biological Understanding: We specialize in single-cell sequencing and culturing testicular cells to explore the underlying biology of male infertility.
- Regenerative Approaches: Our Centre is advancing the field through expertise in 3D bioprinting human tissue, deriving testicular cells from human-induced pluripotent stem cells, designing microfluidic chips, and leveraging in silico drug discovery to promote in vitro spermatogenesis as a future regenerative medicine therapeutic approach.
- Computational Expertise: We utilize advanced computational techniques such as single-cell sequencing analyses, deep learning algorithms, and computer vision methods to accelerate discovery and innovation.
- Therapeutic Device Development: We are creating digital tools for rare sperm selection by integrating deep learning, computer vision, and user-friendly device interfaces.
Sexual Medicine
Our sexual medicine research focuses on enhancing care through technological and therapeutic innovations.
- Digital Health: We are developing computer vision and AI-based tools as well as virtual and e-health interventions to improve sexual health care delivery and outcomes.
- Medical Devices: We are working to design a new generation of penile implants, constriction bands, and other advanced medical devices to treat sexual dysfunction.
- Therapeutic Drug Discovery: We are investigating the mechanisms of fibrosis and identifying therapeutic targets for Peyronie’s disease, as well as developing novel treatments for erectile dysfunction and other sexual dysfunctions.
- Clinical Supportive Care: Our expertise includes creating and scaling programs for comprehensive sexual health supportive care.
By combining cutting-edge technology with translational research, RSM aims to revolutionize the understanding and treatment of male reproductive and sexual health disorders.
Clinical
Male Sexual Medicine
The RSM Centre provides comprehensive care for conditions such as Peyronie’s disease, erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory and orgasmic dysfunction, and low testosterone. For Peyronie’s disease, we offer treatments including verapamil injections, plication surgery, and plaque incision and grafting surgery. Erectile dysfunction is managed through both medical therapies and surgical options, such as penile implant surgery, tailored to meet each patient’s needs.
Male Infertility
We specialize in diagnosing and treating male infertility, addressing issues such as semen abnormalities, obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia, and varicoceles. Treatment options include advanced sperm retrieval techniques like microdissection testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE) and TESE/PESA. We also perform microsurgical procedures such as vasectomy reversals, vasovasostomies, vasoepididymostomies, and varicocelectomies. Hormone therapy may be used as an adjunct to optimize fertility outcomes.
Additional Services
In addition to treating sexual medicine and infertility concerns, we offer vasectomy procedures for patients seeking permanent contraception.
Our comprehensive approach ensures personalized and effective care for each patient’s unique needs.
Leadership
Dr. Ryan Flannigan, MD
Centre Director
The Reproductive & Sexual Medicine Centre
Led by Dr. Ryan Flannigan, a multidisciplinary team of clinician-scientists, mechanical engineers, reproductive biologists and computational scientists is using 3D Bioprinting, microfluidic chip development and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – based drug discovery to support rare sperm identification and production and give couples a real chance at becoming parents.
The most severe form of male infertility, non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), affects approximately 1% of the male population and lacks effective regenerative treatment. Current solutions are invasive and yield low live birth rates (10–25%). The team used key equipment* funded through the campaign to print the world’s first high resolution spermatogenetic tubular structures from patient-derived cells and to create an algorithm that finds rare sperm from testicular biopsies from men with severe male infertility. A young male patient diagnosed with NOA was among the first to benefit from these pioneering efforts, which provide real hope and potential for fertility restoration in otherwise untreatable scenarios.