Low-cost, portable and automated semen analysis using computational microscopy for home-based testing of male wellness and fertility

使用计算显微镜进行低成本、便携式和自动化精液分析，用于男性健康和生育力的家庭测试

• 批准号: 9753318
• 负责人: Maxim Batalin
• 金额: $ 83.27万
• 依托单位: LUCENDI, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2021-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9753318
• 关键词: Affect; Algorithmic Analysis; Algorithms; Area; Birth; Characteristics; Child; Clinic; Clinical; Clinical Treatment; Clinical Trials; Collaborations; Collection; Companions; Computer Assisted; Couples; Custom; Detection; Development; Drug or Chemical; Evaluation; Event; Farming environment; Feedback; Fertility; Gold; Head; Health; Home environment; Human; Image; Image Analysis; Infertility; Internet; Laboratories; Lasers; Life Style; Male Infertility; Manuals; Measurement; Measures; Microscope; Microscopic; Microscopy; Modality; Monitor; Motion; Optics; Performance; Phase; Procedures; Process; Reader; Recommendation; Research; Resolution; Running; Sampling; Secure; Seminal fluid; Societies; Source; Speed; Sperm Banks; Sperm Count Procedure; Sperm Head; Sperm Motility; Suction; Suggestion; System; Systems Analysis; Tail; Technology; Testing; Time; TimeLine; Training; Update; Validation; Variant; Vasectomy; Women' s Health; animal breeding; automated analysis; base; cell motility; cost; cost effective; density; design; graphical user interface; healthy lifestyle; high throughput analysis; imaging platform; improved; intrauterine insemination; lens; light weight; male; male fertility; meetings; mobile application; novel; portability; prototype; research clinical testing; response; sensor; social stigma; sperm analysis; sperm cell; sperm quality; statistics; web app

One of the most significant events in our lives is the birth of a child. At the same time, on average 20% of couples find difficulties conceiving within the first year of trying. In our society, historically, fertility issues are mostly associated with females' health. However, in 40%-50% of these cases male fertility issues may be at the source of the problem, while, typically, are much easier to treat. The fundamental evaluation of male fertility in the clinical laboratory begins with sperm characterization, where the golden standard is to use a benchtop microscope (manually) and/or a computer-assisted automated semen analysis (CASA) system. Though, partially due to cost and partially due to social stigma associated with clinical evaluation or treatment, male infertility often stays undetected. This has generated a demand for inexpensive in-home sperm evaluation kits. However, there is currently no product on the market that offers in-home and quantitative measurement of sperm count and motility – parameters vital for interpretation of semen quality. This proposal aims to develop and commercialize a Lucendi Semen Performance Analytics (Lucendi SPA) platform. Lucendi SPA will be a rapid (<2 minutes), simple-to-use, inexpensive, compact, lightweight, and portable product for automated analysis of sperm characteristics ideal for repeated and continual testing of male fertility and wellness. Lucendi SPA will be designed based on a novel lens-free microscopy technology developed over the past decade at UCLA by Prof. Ozcan's lab. Lucendi SPA system will consist of a disposable cartridge (for single use) and a multi-use computational reader. Another component of the Lucendi SPA system will be a mobile/web application that tracks and quantifies user's sperm characteristics and quality over time, provides actionable feedback and easy to understand metrics, offers wellness and lifestyle suggestions for improvement of results and stimulates an overall healthy lifestyle, promoting wellness. With the relatively low cost of computational power, we believe that such a compact, light-weight and cost- effective automated semen analysis platform running on a wide-field lensfree on-chip microscope would be especially useful for in-home male fertility tests. Potential other application areas of this unique semen analysis platform are vast and include post-vasectomy tests either at home or in clinics, sperm analysis in fertility clinics (including IVF procedures), semen quality evaluation in sperm banks, stud performance assessment at animal breeding centers, and stud health monitoring in farms. In addition to these, by using a larger-area image sensor, this platform can also be transformed into a significantly higher throughput analysis platform that can measure sperms' response to different drugs or chemicals of various concentrations in parallel.

我们生命中最重要的事件之一就是孩子的出生。同时，平均20%的 夫妇们在尝试的第一年内发现难以受孕。在我们的社会中，历史上，生育问题是 大多与女性健康有关。然而，在40%-50%的这些情况下，男性生育问题可能是在 问题的根源，而，通常，更容易治疗。男性生育能力的基本评估 在临床实验室中，首先是精子特征鉴定，金标准是使用台式 显微镜（手动）和/或计算机辅助自动精液分析（CASA）系统。不过， 部分原因是成本，部分原因是与临床评价或治疗相关的社会耻辱，男性 不孕症通常不会被发现。这就产生了对廉价的家用精子评估试剂盒的需求。 然而，目前市场上还没有产品提供家庭和定量测量， 精子计数和活力--解释精液质量的重要参数。该提案旨在开发和商业化Lucendi精液性能分析（Lucendi SPA）平台。Lucendi SPA将是一种快速（<2分钟），简单易用，价格低廉，紧凑，轻便，便携式的产品，用于自动分析精子特征，非常适合反复和持续测试男性生育力和健康。Lucendi SPA将基于Ozcan教授实验室过去十年在UCLA开发的一种新型无透镜显微镜技术进行设计。Lucendi SPA系统将由一次性检测盒（一次性使用）和多次使用计算读取器组成。Lucendi SPA系统的另一个组成部分将是一个移动的/网络应用程序，可以跟踪和量化用户的精子特征和质量，提供可操作的反馈和易于理解的指标，提供健康和生活方式建议以改善结果，并刺激整体健康的生活方式，促进健康。由于计算能力的成本相对较低，我们相信这样一个紧凑，重量轻，成本- 在宽视场无透镜芯片显微镜上运行的有效的自动精液分析平台将是 对于家庭男性生育能力测试特别有用。这种独特的精液分析的其他潜在应用领域 平台是巨大的，包括输精管切除术后的测试，无论是在家里还是在诊所，精子分析在生育诊所 （包括IVF程序），精子库中的精液质量评估，动物的种马性能评估 育种中心，并在农场的螺柱健康监测。此外，通过使用更大面积的图像， 传感器，该平台还可以转变为显著更高通量的分析平台， 平行测量精子对不同药物或不同浓度化学物质的反应。