New IVF technique shows how to select best sperm to achieve pregnancy

A tiny device, that can fit in the palm of the hand, may hold the key to IVF treatment for male infertility.

A tiny device that can fit in the palm of the hand may hold the key to IVF treatment for male infertility for its “exquisite” ability to select and direct the best sperm to achieve a pregnancy.

Inside the Australian-designed device called SpermGuide is a complex array of micro channels thinner than a human hair that sperm must navigate so that only the best make it to an egg.

The disc-shaped microfluidic device was invented by Australian company NeoGenix Biosciences.

The tiny device has an “exquisite” ability to select and direct the best sperm towards an egg. Image: NeoGenix

Microfluidics is the study of how fluid behaves as it moves through these channels: think blood through veins, or in this case millions of sperm swimming towards an egg.

It works by selecting sperm that are able to work their way around corners, through boundaries and troughs, just as they would in the female cervix and fallopian tubes.

The company’s CEO and founder Dr Steve Vasilescu said it replicates the natural sperm selection process that occurs in the female reproductive tract.

“It provides a gentler and more effective alternative to traditional IVF sperm selection methods,” he said.

In a recent pilot study by Melbourne IVF and IVF Australia in collaboration with NeoGenix Biosciences, researchers reported it was “significantly better” at selecting high-quality sperm for IVF.

“It is the selection of the most fertile,” says Professor David Gardner, the scientific director of Melbourne IVF.

“I’ve seen the incredible potential of rethinking how we do things on a micro scale. The bottom line is nature offers this incredible selection process as the sperm traverses through the uterus into the fallopian tube, and by the time the sperm gets to the egg there’s only a few hundred of them.”

The method may be a way to help male infertility IVF treatment. Picture: iStock

Dr Vasilescu said while there was more understanding about sperm’s journey, incorporating that knowledge into a technology that fits into a clinic had been challenging.

“We have been able to use new microfabrication techniques to replicate elements of the female reproductive tract and select high quality sperm biomimetically,” he said.

This is done by creating an environment that mimics what a sperm encounters naturally, which has always been the holy grail of IVF.

IVF pioneer Professor Gardner described it as a beautiful, radial device. “It’s exquisite!”

“What has been the standard for over 40 years has had very little (sperm) selection in that process,” he said.

“Sometimes as scientists we do what we think is best, but it always pays to consider what happens in-vivo and I think this is where this term biomimetic comes from, it’s mimicking something in biology and it’s very powerful.”

Professor Gardner said what had excited the team was that focus was on not just motility, how well the sperm swim, but DNA fragmentation.

“We see it as …. a way to create a selection process that gives potentially healthier sperm which will give us better pregnancies.”

The pilot study, published in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, used a prototype and next will be to develop a design suitable for large scale manufacturing.

“I’ve been doing (IVF) for 42 years and looking at where we’ve come from and where we’re going to, it’s incredible. It gives us great hope and inspiration to continue to do this kind of work to help our patients because we see real effects.”

He also urged men to take care of their health.

“The message for men is that fertility is finite,” Professor Gardner said. “It’s just like women, the clock is ticking for us and we have to take better care of ourselves.”