A new artificial intelligence (AI) sperm finder tool has helped a couple get pregnant after 15 previous IVF cycles were unsuccessful.
This is the first pregnancy reported from a cycle using the new sperm finder developed at Columbia University in New York. 'Sperm track and recovery' (STAR) uses AI to search through semen samples in men with azoospermia – where no sperm cells are found in the semen – and can scan eight million images in approximately one hour.
'To test the system, before we discarded samples where embryologists could not find any sperm, we decided to run those samples through [STAR],' fertility specialist Dr Zev Williams told Time. 'The embryologists really worked hard to find sperm, since they didn't want to be outshone by a machine. In one of the samples they analysed for two days and found no sperm, STAR found 44 in an hour.'
These numbers of sperm are incredibly small compared to the average 30 million to one billion sperm in a typical ejaculation, so finding them is like 'finding a needle hidden within a thousand haystacks' according to Dr Williams.
Male factor infertility is estimated to account for 40 percent of couples who need IVF, with azoospermia accounting for around four percent. Unlike other forms of male factor infertility where ICSI can be used, the options for men with azoospermia have been 'to use donor sperm or to try undergoing a painful surgery where a portion of the testes is actually removed to try to find sperm,' Dr Williams told Today.
STAR differs from other AI tracking technologies as it can actively isolate any sperm cells it detects for clinical use. STAR uses a microfluidic chip in the semen sample and high-powered imaging for the initial search, and robotic technology then moves the individual sperm cells within a millisecond of discovery.
Most importantly, 'it's so gentle that the sperm it recovers can still be used to fertilise an egg' said Dr Williams.
The couple has been trying to get pregnant for over 18 years, and the mother (now in her late thirties) was aware that her own fertility could be in decline. They are expecting their baby in late 2025, and the pregnancy is proceeding normally.
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