A team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in conjunction with Stanford University has developed a sperm-sorting device to select the “healthiest” sperm for in-vitro fertilisation. Known as “SPARTAN” – Simple Periodic ARray for Trapping and isolatioN – this is a microfluid device. The “healthiest” sperm are those that swim the fastest. The device is approximately 4 millimetres wide and 12 to 16 millimetres long. The sorting process takes between 5 and 30 minutes to complete in a clinic. Whereas “conventional” methods sort sperm according to their motility, SPARTAN also considers the morphology criterion.
The DxNow Company, based in Maryland, has already filed a patent application and plans to request FDA approval for a market launch in July 2018.
Medical press, Sharon Gaudin (3/01/2018)