Filtered By: Topstories
News

New fertility chip measures sperm motility


Home test kits measuring male sperm fertility may soon be significantly improved, following the creation of a new fertility chip in The Netherlands. Loes Segerink, a researcher at the University of Twente, developed the "fertility chip" that can count sperm and measure their motility (ability of sperm to move properly towards an egg). "The chip can be inserted into a compact device for one-off use. A home test kit will soon make it possible for men to test their sperm in a familiar environment. As a result, there is a greater chance of obtaining a correct diagnosis, also the method is simple and inexpensive," according to an article on ScienceDaily. It said Segerink's doctoral defense will take place on November 4. The ScienceDaily article said that while home test kits are now available, they are presently limited and do not give accurate concentration readings. Sperm motility is factor in successful pregnancies. In her "lab-on-a-chip," Segerink can measure sperm concentration. The fertility standard states 1 ml of ejaculate should contain at least 20 million sperms. Segerink developed the "fertility chip" in the BIOS Lab-on-a-Chip research group of Prof. Albert van den Berg, in collaboration with the Twente Medical Spectrum. The research group is part of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente. Companies such as PigGenetics, Blue4Green, R&R Mechatronics, Menzis, and Lionix also participated in this project, funded by the STW Technology Foundation in The Netherlands. In 2011, Segerink received a Valorisation Grant, as a first step towards establishing a company. This will provide her with a platform for refining the fertility chip and its accompanying read-out device into a market-ready product. How it works On the chip, sperm will flow through a liquid-filled channel, beneath electrode "bridges." When a cell passes beneath one of these electrodes, there is a brief fluctuation in the electrical resistance and these events are counted. Segerink added microspheres (tiny balls) to the liquid to test the reliability of her concentration measurements, and found the method was selective enough to distinguish sperm from microspheres. The system was also able to reliably distinguish white blood cells from other bodies, she noted. ScienceDaily noted the white cell count provides important additional information to gynecologists. A small adjustment of the lab-on-a-chip allowed the sorting of motile from non-motile sperm, after which both can be counted separately. By measuring sperm motility in this way, the chip offers a truly complete test. — LBG, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT