Sperm Sorting Device Developed At WPI May Improve Fertility Treatments

WORCESTER (CBS) – About 15-percent of couples experience infertility in the U.S. and at least a third of cases are due to male reproductive issues. But some local researchers have developed a sperm sorting device which may help couples trying to conceive improve their chances. When couples undergo fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryologists try to select the best sperm to use. That often involves a spinning process much like clothes in a washing machine, but those high forces can cause damage to the sperm and the DNA inside. “The less we subject the cells to outside forces, outside effects, the healthier that we have a chance of isolating the healthy ones,” says Erkan Tuzel, PhD, an associate professor of physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Tuzel’s team and colleagues at Stanford University have created a device called SPARTAN (Simple Periodic ARray for Trapping And IsolatioN). It’s the size of a credit card and can sort out the healthiest sperm in a simple, gentle, and efficient way. Resembling an obstacle course, the device is made up of a series of 3-dimensional columns for sperm to swim around. Only the healthiest make it to the end the fastest. An animated description of the sperm sorting device. (Image credit: Erkan Tuzel – WPI) “[It’s] a physical maze that we have designed that essentially helps the healthy sperm to leave a flock behind, a flock of maybe unhealthy or not able to move well sperm, fr...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Boston News Health Syndicated Local Dr. Mallika Marshall Local TV Sperm Sorter Source Type: news