This new sperm-sorting device could potentially help increase pregnancy rates

It's a known fact who women undergoing vitro fertilisation (IVF) might have to wait to become pregnant only after a few treatment cycles. However, thanks to a newly developed device, this could change. Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have found a new device that can select faster and healthier sperm cells thus increasing pregnancy rates.

Called, SPARTAN, short for Simple Periodic ARray for Trapping And IsolatioN, the device has been developed by a team of researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Stanford University in the US. It uses a field of three-dimensional posts that create an obstacle course for the swimming sperm cells. The strongest and healthiest sperm get through this array the fastest and then are collected at the outlet to be used in the IVF process, according to researchers, including Thiruppathiraja Chinnasamy from Stanford University.

"With SPARTAN, we not only get sperm with excellent motility but also with normal morphology and better DNA integrity, helping families worldwide by reducing the stress of multiple IVF procedures, while potentially increasing pregnancy rates," said Erkan Tuzel, associate professor at WPI. "This could increase patients' chances of getting pregnant," said Tuzel, who co-led the study published in the journal Advanced Science.

The SPARTAN device is about four millimetres wide and 12 to 16 millimetres long. Sperms are simply injected into one end and the fastest and healthiest are collected on the opposite end for immediate use in in vitro fertilisation. The new sperm-sorting device also could mean that patients will spend less money overall on IVF treatments.