I-Corps: Quantitative Diagnosis of Sperm Quality

精子质量决定了男性的受孕能力，但许多男性并不知道他们生孩子的机会，也不知道他们为什么不育。这个i-Corps团队提议开发一种技术，为男性提供一种新的方法来评估他们的精子质量和受精率。最终，它会帮助那些正在寻求治疗选择的不孕夫妇。此外，评估精子质量对精子库、生育诊所和饲养牲畜的农民也很重要，因为选择最优质精子的能力可以提高生产率和利润。目前，只能确定精子质量的某些方面，拟议的项目扩大了精子分析的参数，导致更好的精子评估和对未识别的不育症的识别。由于这项技术识别了一种新型不孕症，它有可能成为生殖医学市场上的一项颠覆性创新。每八对夫妇中就有一对不孕不育，仅在美国就有数百万人受到影响。在目前的技术下，大约20%的夫妇不知道他们不孕的基础，也不能将其归因于男性或女性。这一不孕率描述了一个非常广阔和令人信服的市场需求。这项技术为生育诊所的医生提供了识别男性患者是否不育并预测体外受精成功的能力。由于治疗通常不在保险范围内，而且只有25%的成功机会，任何可以增加成功的可预测性的东西都将是维持医生声誉和成功率的重要方法。其他潜在的市场领域可能是农业；通过使用人工授精饲养火鸡、奶牛和猪等牲畜的农场。这项技术将为农民提供一种诊断工具，以评估精液质量，以提高农业生产率。此外，精子库可以使用我们的技术来预测他们出售的精子的质量。总体而言，这项技术将显著提高对精子质量和能力的评估，以产生健康的婴儿或后代。利用i-Corps的资金，这个团队将确定拟议的技术可以使用的具体领域。为了调查客户的需求，如精度水平、价格和易用性，该团队将寻找体验过当前技术的潜在客户和对当前技术不满意的客户。

Sperm quality determines a man's ability to conceive, but many men do not know their chances of having a baby or why they are infertile. This I-Corps team proposes to develop a technology that provides men a new way to assess their sperm quality and fertility. Ultimately, it helps the infertile couples that are seeking treatment options. Furthermore, assessing sperm quality is also important to sperm banks, fertility clinics, and farmers that produce livestock because the ability to select the best quality sperm leads to an increase in productivity and profit. Currently, only some aspects of sperm quality can be determined, and the proposed project expands the parameters of sperm analysis, leading to better sperm evaluation and identification of unrecognized infertility. Since the technology identifies a new type of infertility, it has the potential to be a disruptive innovation in the reproductive medicine market.One out of eight couples is infertile, affecting millions of people in the USA alone. With current technology, approximately 20% of these couples do not know the basis of their infertility and cannot attribute it to either the man or the woman. This rate of infertility describes a very broad and compelling market need. The technology provides physicians in fertility clinics the ability to identify whether male patients are infertile and predict the success of in vitro fertilization. Since treatments are usually not covered by insurance and have only a 25% chance of success, anything that can increase the predictability of success would be an important way to maintain physicians' reputations and success ratios. Other potential market areas might be agricultural; farms that breed livestock such as turkey, dairy cattle, and pigs, by using artificial insemination. This technology would provide the farmer a diagnostic tool to assess semen quality to increase agricultural productivity. Furthermore, sperm banks could use our technology to predict the quality of the sperm they sell. Overall the technology would significantly enhance the assessment of sperm quality and capability to produce a healthy baby or offspring. Using I-Corps funding this team will determine specific areas where the proposed technology can be utilized. In order to investigate the customers' needs, such as accuracy level, price, and ease of use, this team will look for potential customers who have experienced the current technology and customers who are not satisfied with the current technology.