Friday, Oct 10, 2025 • Brian Lopez : Contact

As women age, their reproductive systems age too, increasing the risk of infertility, miscarriage or birth defects. A University of Texas at Arlington bioengineer is investigating ways to separate reproductive aging from overall lifespan, potentially helping older women achieve viable pregnancies.

Salman Sohrabi, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, received a $473,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study this process using tiny 1-millimeter, non-parasitic worms that model human lifespan and reproductive aging. With a lifespan of about 15 days, these worms, known as C. elegans, show physical changes during aging that parallel those of mammals, including humans.

“The reason that a woman’s chance of miscarriage or birth defects increases as she ages is that the viability of her eggs decreases with age as well,” Dr. Sohrabi said. “If we can determine how to untangle reproductive aging from lifespan, we can help older women have healthier, viable pregnancies.”

Sohrabi uses C. elegans because their genomes are similar to humans, and their short lifespan allows researchers to quickly observe how different factors affect reproductive aging.

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These worms experience reproductive decline in mid-life, mirroring human menopause around age 50. Their egg quality diminishes with age, resembling the increased risk of pregnancy complications in older women. Being transparent, the worms also allow scientists to directly observe changes in their reproductive systems.

The major challenge of using C. elegans is that the mothers must be constantly monitored, and their offspring manually separated to determine when reproduction stops. With hundreds of worms per experiment, this process is extremely time-consuming.

To address this challenge, Sohrabi is developing a device that will automate observation, separation and recording of the worms and their offspring. Once the process is streamlined, he will study the mechanisms behind reproduction to learn how to maintain egg quality and prevent oocyte deterioration.

“When I was a post-doctoral researcher, I tested one gene which significantly increased reproductive span, but not lifespan. I don’t know why, and I want to find out,” Sohrabi said.

—       Jeremy Agor, College of Engineering

About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)

Celebrating its 130^th anniversary in 2025, The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of the thriving Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With a student body of over 42,700, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 280,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.