- Title: TAIWAN-SPERM Clip-on iPad fertility tester brings sperm to life on screen
- Date: 16th July 2015
- Summary: SAM'S FINGERS MAGNIFYING SCREEN IMAGE OF SPERM MORE OF IMAGE OF SPERM
- Embargoed: 31st July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9M84VT2BK9UH26R37BSKI914J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: WARNING: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
Sam Wang, manager of the Wang Wen Chu Livestock Farm in central Taiwan, places a large flask of milky white substance on the table in front of him. Next to the flask rests an iPad Mini and a black ping-pong-ball-sized cylinder known as iSperm: the new tools of his trade.
Stirring the litre of raw boar semen in the flask, Wang says the farm's pregnancy success rate increased by 20 percent after it started using this gadget. "After using the iSperm, which is accurate at calculating the concentration of sperm, its data can be used as a basis to dilute. It also can provide our farm a more accurate breeding rate and delivery rate," he said. "Compared to the past when we depended only on our eyes, we can escalate the breeding rate about 20 percent. It's more accurate and better than past methods."
Wang's farm specialises in swine husbandry, so obtaining accurate measurements of his animals' fertility is crucial.
He says that in the past, the farm used large, expensive microscopes and physically counted each individual sperm. He demonstrated to Reuters how the system worked, by dipping part of the cylinder into the substance and attaching it to his iPad, where thousands of wriggling sperm suddenly burst into life on the screen. Within seconds, measurements of sperm count and motility appear as well.
"At this moment, it (iSperm) can judge the concentration and vitality of sperm, but regarding its shape it still needs to be observed and analysed through our eyes. However, the strength of iSperm is that we can magnify the image of sperm so it will be clearer for us to see the performance and shape."
Having extracted a landrace boar's sperm, Wang's younger brother Wang Ying-Zhi, explained the manual part of the process. "What we have just seen is the process of extracting sperm. Depending on the character of this boar, it will take 10-15 minutes or so to extract its sperm," he said. "The quantity of sperm we just extracted was around 500 cubic centimetres. Actually we still need to dilute it depending on its concentration. Basically, if its concentration is good enough, the quantity of sperm of a boar can allow up to ten sows to breed."
iSperm is the product of Taiwan startup Aidmics, whose founder, 35-year-old Agean Lin, sees the nascent DIY sperm-testing market - not just among livestock, but people - as a huge opportunity.
The global fertility market is currently worth as much as $40 billion, according to estimates from Harris Williams, an investment advisory.
iSperm, which was released commercially last August and has sold nearly 200 sets to farms in China, Taiwan, Korea, Spain and the Netherlands, isn't the first at-home sperm tester. It is, however, the only one that offers both instant fertility measurements and the immediate 'wow' factor of seeing one's own sperm squirming around a mobile gadget screen.
The technology behind iSperm is deceptively simple: a tiny, customised microscope enlarges the contents of a few drops of semen inside a pipette, lit by a backlight. The light beams the moving image to the iPad camera, which captures it as it would any normal video.
Algorithms then analyse the sample for total sperm count and motility, or how fast sperm can swim. A future version of iSperm will assess morphology, or sperm head shape - another important fertility metric. They will also be usable on smartphones and Android devices in addition to the iPad.
Some experts believe the tool could enable researchers to better understand factors that contribute to male fertility and get a more nuanced understanding of how various factors impact sperm health.
While iSperm can analyse human sperm and has been utilised in clinical settings, it not yet available for sale to the average consumer, though the company aims to submit the gadget for approval to the U.S. FDA early next year, with shipments potentially beginning by late 2016. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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