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

我们生命中最重要的事件之一就是孩子的诞生。与此同时，平均20%的 夫妻在尝试的第一年内就会发现怀孕有困难。在我们的社会，从历史上看，生育问题是 主要与女性的健康有关。然而，在这些病例中，40%-50%的男性生育问题可能是 问题的根源，虽然，通常，更容易治疗。男性生育能力的基本评价 在临床实验室中，首先是对精子进行鉴定，其中黄金标准是使用台式设备 显微镜(手动)和/或计算机辅助自动精液分析(CASA)系统。不过， 部分是由于费用，部分是由于与临床评估或治疗相关的社会耻辱，男性 不孕症通常不会被发现。这就产生了对廉价家庭精子评估试剂盒的需求。 然而，目前市场上还没有提供室内和定量测量的产品 精子数量和活动率--对解释精液质量至关重要的参数。该提案旨在开发Lucendi精液性能分析(Lucendi SPA)平台并将其商业化。Lucendi SPA将是一款快速(2分钟)、简单易用、廉价、紧凑、轻便和便携的精子特征自动分析产品，是重复和持续测试男性生育和健康的理想选择。Lucendi SPA将基于过去十年由Ozcan教授的实验室在加州大学洛杉矶分校开发的一种新的无透镜显微镜技术来设计。Lucendi SPA系统将包括一个一次性墨盒(供一次性使用)和一个多用途计算机阅读器。Lucendi SPA系统的另一个组件将是一个移动/网络应用程序，它可以跟踪和量化用户随时间推移的精子特征和质量，提供可操作的反馈和易于理解的指标，提供改善结果的健康和生活方式建议，并刺激整体健康的生活方式，促进健康。在计算能力成本相对较低的情况下，我们认为如此紧凑、轻便和成本-- 在宽视场无透镜芯片显微镜上运行的有效自动精液分析平台将是 特别适用于家庭男性生育能力测试。这种独特的精液分析的其他潜在应用领域 平台很大，包括在家里或诊所进行输精管结扎后测试，在生育诊所进行精子分析 (包括试管受精程序)、精子库中的精液质量评估、动物的种马性能评估 育种中心，以及农场的种马健康监测。除此之外，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的吞吐量分析平台，可以 同时测量精子对不同浓度的不同药物或化学品的反应。

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.