(Press-News.org)
New Specimen Collection System Enhances Assisted Reproductive Technologies
Considered an experimental procedure during the late 1970s when it made headlines with each birth it produced, in vitro fertilization (IVF) has helped many couples overcome infertility issues for more than four decades. In several nations, IVF is responsible for up to 3% of the babies born.
The procedure, now a cornerstone of infertility treatments, has expanded to include other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). One of those ARTs, known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), involves using a microscopic needle to inject a single sperm into an egg.
Though viewed as an almost universal means for egg insemination, ICSI does have limitations. It requires expensive equipment and well-trained individuals. And while many other technologies for selecting viable eggs have been developed over the past few years, there remain few options for selecting healthy sperm beyond assessing their movement and morphology (structure).
In an ongoing effort to improve healthy sperm selection, Samuel Prien, Ph.D., and Lindsay Penrose, Ph.D., from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine have worked for years to develop a specimen collection cup that creates a more favorable environment for sperm.
In 2022, they received a patent (“Method and Apparatus for Collection of Fluid Samples”) to produce a second-generation collection cup that made important improvements to the first such patented device invented at TTUHSC several years prior by Prien and Dustie Johnson, Ph.D. That second-generation device, known as the DISC (Device for Improved Semen Collection), is marketed today by Reproductive Solutions under the brand name ProteX.
In their latest study (“A Simple One-Step System Enhances the Availability of High-Quality Sperm for Assisted Reproductive Procedures”) that was published Oct. 10 by the Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prien and Penrose provided preliminary results of their latest collection technology system design, which provides a simple, one-step method of sperm selection for ICSI which also may prove useful for conventional IVF and IUI (intrauterine insemination).
The system, defined as the sperm isolation device that uses a barrier mesh between fluids, is known commercially as the NovaSort and also is marketed by Reproductive Solutions. The basket-like device was designed to work in any properly shaped holding vessel, but ideally in tandem with the ProteX collection cup.
“This new design allows us to process the sample and very simply recover mobile sperm,” Prien said. “In a one-step process, we put the little basket in, we wait the appropriate amount of time and then we have mobile sperm which have not been through the rigors of all the other ways we process sperm right now, such as with centrifuges and different kinds of gradients that can damage the DNA. We can isolate the sperm without ever having exposed them to anything that might damage them.”
Prien said the NovaSort is designed to prevent the mixing of seminal fluid and media while allowing the motile (moving) sperm to move out of the seminal fluid and into the media while keeping unwanted debris out. This provides a clean highly motile population of sperm to use in ARTs.
John Smothers, co-founder and executive vice president of Operations and Technology for RSI, said the new system design helps address two issues clinics face in collecting viable samples: chain of custody and time.
“Any potential chain of custody issue goes away because the sample never leaves the collection cup,” Smothers said. “It also provides efficiency because the clinics can conduct the process in about 15 minutes, whereas before it was taking an hour or more. And they complete the process with much healthier sperm, which increases the chances of having healthy pregnancies.”
Prien, Penrose and TTUHSC have filed patent applications for the new system design, which was demonstrated live at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Scientific Congress and Expo Oct. 14-18 in New Orleans. Penrose said she’s most excited to display the overall efficiency the new system provides to practitioners and the hope it provides patients.
“We're going to be able to help our lab colleagues be more efficient in their work, and we're going to be able to help more patients have healthy pregnancies,” Penrose added. “That’s always our goal.”
And while the new system is exciting for RSI from a commercial standpoint, Smothers said it also demonstrates how the successful collaboration between TTUHSC and RSI is helping patients.
“We wouldn't be at this point if we didn't have partners like TTUHSC that would collaborate and work with us,” Smothers added. “It makes a huge difference for us, TTUHSC and patients.”
###
END
OCTOBER 17, 2023, NEW YORK – It is with great pleasure that Ludwig Cancer Research announces its launch of the Ludwig Leadership Fellows Program.
Conceived, funded and managed by the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Program aims to accelerate the careers of exceptional young scientists by helping them establish genuinely independent programs of research immediately after the completion of their graduate studies.
“Our hope is that the Leadership Fellows program will contribute to a pipeline of outstanding future leaders of cancer research,” said Chi Van Dang, scientific director of the Ludwig Institute. “We and many others have grown increasingly alarmed ...
HOUSTON, October 17, 2023 – Twenty-six active college football coaches make up the American Heart Association’s 2023 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list, a list of current coaches in consideration for the annual top honor. The award is given each January to a college football coach for contributions that make the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity and a winning approach to coaching and life - both on and off the field.
The ...
BOSTON – Novel treatments, combination therapies, and personalized medicine headline several studies led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and presented for the first time at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain. The studies will be presented both in-person and online on October 20-24, 2023. A full list of Dana-Farber oral abstracts is available here.
A pivotal lung cancer study (LBA65) led by Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD, director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, looking at the efficacy and safety of adagrasib with pembrolizumab in patients that have advanced non-small cell lung ...
CHICAGO (October 17, 2023): Members of the media can still apply to cover the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2023. One of the largest international meetings of surgeons in the world, Clinical Congress will feature many opportunities to report on groundbreaking surgical research, connect with surgeon experts, and learn more about the latest trends in surgery.
When: October 22-25, 2023
Where: Boston, Massachusetts. This year’s conference will once again be a hybrid event (held onsite and virtually).
Apply: Please read the ACS Criteria for Media Credentials before submitting your application for credentials. Apply ...
Using a small bird’s nest-making process as a model, researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a nontoxic process for making cellulose gels. The freeze-thaw process is simple, cost-effective, and can create cellulose gels that are useful in a number of applications, including tunable gels for timed drug delivery. The process also works with bamboo and potentially other lignin-containing plant fibers.
Cellulose is a wonderful material for making hydrogels – which are used in applications ranging from contact lenses to wound care and drug delivery. But creating hydrogels from cellulose is tricky, and often the processes used to create the hydrogels ...
CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
FOR RELEASE: October 17, 2023
Abby Shroba Kozlowski
cell: 607-229-2681
ars454@cornell.edu
Familiarity breeds contempt for moral failings
ITHACA, N.Y. – People judge members of their own circles more harshly than they judge individuals from other groups for the same transgressions, according to new Cornell University research.
Morality plays a central role in this phenomenon. The researchers found that because morality is a social glue that holds a community together, when someone breaks those moral rules inside the group, it is perceived as more of a threat than when outsiders breaks the same rules in their own groups.
“When ...
Between the Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s Just Transition Mechanism, both the United States and Europe are poised to put tens of billions of dollars toward creating green jobs. At the same time, there are conversations about how to ensure workers in the current fossil fuel industry have the skills to participate in this green revolution.
But new research published in Nature Communications shows many fossil fuel workers have the right skills already — the problem is that those new green jobs likely won’t be in the right place. The results spell a message for those planning a greener economy: If all they think about ...
Cold Spring Harbor, NY - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (CSHL Press), a publisher of scientific books, journals, and electronic media, today announced the publication of The Medical Revolution of Messenger RNA by science and technology journalist Fabrice Delaye.
Many people think it took just ten months to develop a vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19. What most don’t know is that it was made possible by using messenger RNA (mRNA), the molecule that instructs cells to make a ...
A study published today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery demonstrates outstanding long-term survival following low-risk isolated surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).
The study reviewed 42,586 patients who underwent low-risk isolated SAVR between 2011 and 2019 at 981 different cardiac surgery programs across the U.S. Conducted by eight leading national investigators, the assessment relied on evidence from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) National Database, with linkage to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Death Index (NDI).
The STS ...
A phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the injectable prescription medication tirzepatide, showed an additional 21.1% weight loss after intensive lifestyle intervention in adults with obesity or who were overweight with weight-related comorbidities, excluding Type 2 diabetes.
The findings of the SURMOUNT-3 study, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, were simultaneously published this week in the journal Nature Medicine and presented at a national conference of obesity researchers.
Tirzepatide, marketed ...
