Project description
A device for the automatic analysis of semen
The EU-funded MicroFSMA project is developing an efficient, automated method for semen analysis and the isolation of quality sperm for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The device will fill in a technological gap in the fertility sector and improve the detection of male infertility. It consists of three microfluidic chips and generates a thermal and chemical gradient to resemble the physical environment of the female reproductive tract. Responsive sperm cells are monitored through a computer that creates successive time-lapse images. Analysis of the flagella movement and the overall sperm trajectory towards the environmental cues will provide important information on sperm kinetics and hence fertility.
Objective
MicroFSMA aims to deliver an assay for semen analysis and isolation of quality sperm for in-vitro fertilization (IVF). An automated, user-friendly, standardized, and efficient method is highly in demand from embryologists/andrologists. MicroFSMA consists three microfluidic chips integrated with a commercial computer program. Microfluidics chips will be designed to replicate in-vivo physical and chemical environment of a female reproductive tract. The thermal and chemical gradient will be generated in microchannels to identify responsive sperm cells.
Additionally, a computer program will facilitate multi-sperm head and flagella tracking for the recorded time-lapse image sequence. Tracking algorithm will connect the positions of sperm cells in recorded successive images. The continuous wavelet analysis (CWT) /harmonic analysis of the flagellar wave and head trajectory will assist to identify the responsive sperm cell towards the chemical/physical cues. We are convinced that the correlation of sperm kinematics with harmonics/wavelet analysis will reveal potential parameters for male infertility screening.
The successful employment of MicroFSMA in an industrial atmosphere will improve the experienced researcher (ER) knowledge of industrial R&D and market strategy. These unconventional skills will ensure the complete exploitation of MicroFSMA results by starting the small-medium enterprise(SME)/academic joint research schemes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinegynaecologyreproductive medicine
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesmolecular and chemical physics
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-SE - Society and Enterprise panelCoordinator
93100 Montreuil
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.