It sounds almost unbelievable, but artificial intelligence has just helped a couple get pregnant after 19 long years of failed attempts. Diagnosed with azoospermia, a condition where no sperm are detectable in the ejaculate, the couple had been through 15 heartbreaking IVF failures. But in March this year, their journey took a miraculous turn, thanks to a pioneering AI tool developed by scientists at Columbia University Fertility Center.
The tool, aptly named Sperm Track and Recovery (STAR), works much like AI systems used by astrophysicists to detect rare stars in the sky, except this one hunts for extremely rare sperm in semen samples.
According to Dr Zev Williams, the lead researcher and developer of STAR, “It’s like finding a needle not just in a haystack, but in a thousand haystacks.” In an interview with Time Magazine, he explained how the system can locate living sperm that traditional lab techniques often miss, and do so in under two hours.
The technology combines AI, high-speed imaging and robotics. A fluidic chip is used to flow a semen sample through a small plastic tube. If the AI algorithm detects even a single viable sperm, that portion of the fluid is isolated in a separate tube, ready to be used for fertilisation or frozen for later use.
That’s exactly what happened in this couple’s case. Within two hours of collecting the husband’s sample, the AI system had not only identified sperm but helped fertilise the wife’s eggs. Just a few days later, the fertilised embryo was transferred to her uterus. Four months on, the mother-to-be and the baby are both doing well.
STAR stands out for its ability to detect sperm in cases where even trained embryologists fall short. Dr Williams recalled an internal test where embryologists spent two days analysing a sample and found no sperm. STAR found 44 viable sperm in just an hour. “They didn’t want to be outdone by a machine,” he joked, but the results were undeniable.
This gentle, chemical-free method marks a massive leap forward in tackling male infertility, particularly azoospermia, which affects around 1% of all men and is responsible for 10% of male infertility cases.
Dr Williams says STAR could soon help redefine possibilities for many men and couples who have lost hope. “The dream is to develop technologies so that those who are told ‘you have no chance of being able to have a child’ can now go on to have healthy children,” he told Time.
With such scientific breakthroughs, it’s no longer just wishful thinking, it’s becoming reality.
Inputs from agencies
The tool, aptly named Sperm Track and Recovery (STAR), works much like AI systems used by astrophysicists to detect rare stars in the sky, except this one hunts for extremely rare sperm in semen samples.
According to Dr Zev Williams, the lead researcher and developer of STAR, “It’s like finding a needle not just in a haystack, but in a thousand haystacks.” In an interview with Time Magazine, he explained how the system can locate living sperm that traditional lab techniques often miss, and do so in under two hours.
The technology combines AI, high-speed imaging and robotics. A fluidic chip is used to flow a semen sample through a small plastic tube. If the AI algorithm detects even a single viable sperm, that portion of the fluid is isolated in a separate tube, ready to be used for fertilisation or frozen for later use.
That’s exactly what happened in this couple’s case. Within two hours of collecting the husband’s sample, the AI system had not only identified sperm but helped fertilise the wife’s eggs. Just a few days later, the fertilised embryo was transferred to her uterus. Four months on, the mother-to-be and the baby are both doing well.
STAR stands out for its ability to detect sperm in cases where even trained embryologists fall short. Dr Williams recalled an internal test where embryologists spent two days analysing a sample and found no sperm. STAR found 44 viable sperm in just an hour. “They didn’t want to be outdone by a machine,” he joked, but the results were undeniable.
This gentle, chemical-free method marks a massive leap forward in tackling male infertility, particularly azoospermia, which affects around 1% of all men and is responsible for 10% of male infertility cases.
Dr Williams says STAR could soon help redefine possibilities for many men and couples who have lost hope. “The dream is to develop technologies so that those who are told ‘you have no chance of being able to have a child’ can now go on to have healthy children,” he told Time.
With such scientific breakthroughs, it’s no longer just wishful thinking, it’s becoming reality.
Inputs from agencies
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