PFI-TT: A new test for male fertility based on sperm neck structures

该创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力正在开发一种男性生育力测试，该测试可以在无法解释的情况下用现有技术强有力地识别先前无法诊断的不孕症原因。目前鉴定男性因素不育的标准方法是精液分析，但不明原因的男性不育的高发病率表明精液分析不足以诊断男性不育的原因。这项新技术有望为不孕症患者提供信息，帮助他们成为父母。此外，使用新技术应该有助于降低养牛户的人工授精成本，因为牛精子的商业供应商在将其用于田间之前将有另一种测试精子质量的方法。此外，通过诊断测试，可以开发直接改善精子质量的治疗方法，而无需使用辅助生殖技术。该项目建立在最近的研究基础上，这些研究表明，评估精子颈部结构（称为中心粒）可以有力地识别男性不育症。该PFI项目旨在将这种评估技术转化为具有成本效益的原型。本研究的主要目标如下：（1）开发一种试剂盒，通过缩短染色程序来简化检测，产生直接标记其靶标的抗体，并找到一种利用更具成本效益的荧光显微镜模型的方法。(II)生成用于分析精子中心粒图像的自动化软件，该图像将指示与不育相关的中心粒质量差。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is developing a male fertility test that could robustly identify a previously undiagnosable cause of infertility in unexplainable cases with current technology. The current standard method for identifying male-factor infertility is a semen analysis, but the high incidence of unexplained male infertility suggests that semen analysis is insufficient for diagnosing causes of male infertility. This new technology is expected to provide infertile human patients with information to help them achieve parenthood. Additionally, using the new technology should help reduce artificial insemination costs for cattle farmers because the commercial suppliers of cattle sperm will have another method of testing sperm quality before it is used in the field. Furthermore, with a diagnostic test, it would be possible to develop treatments to directly improve sperm quality without using assisted reproductive technology. The proposed project builds upon recent studies demonstrating that assessing a sperm neck structure, called the centriole, could robustly identify male infertility. This PFI project is aimed at translating this assessment technology into a cost-effective prototype. The main goals of the proposed research are as follows: (I) To develop a kit and simplify testing by shortening the staining procedure, generate antibodies that label their targets directly, and find a way to utilize a more cost-effective model of fluorescent microscopy. (II) To generate automated software for analyzing sperm centriole images that would indicate the poor centriole quality associated with infertility. The pathway to commercialization includes completing the patent application and licensing the technology to an existing company.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.