A Columbia University Fertility Center couple has become the first to conceive after nearly 19 years of trying, thanks to a revolutionary AI system designed to find rare sperm. The 38-year-old woman and her husband had undergone 15 unsuccessful IVF attempts due to azoospermia, a condition where no sperm is detectable in semen.
The AI tool, called STAR (Sperm Track and Recovery), uses an algorithm paired with a fluidic chip to screen samples for rare sperm cells. Developed by Dr. Zev Williams and his team, the technology borrowed from astrophysics, scanning millions of cells for scarce sperm. The approach found sperm in samples where manual searches had failed.
The breakthrough means men with azoospermia now have new hope. Prior options included using donor sperm or invasive procedures. In one sample, STAR found 44 sperm in an hour, while human embryologists only found none after a two-day analysis. Rosie’s successful pregnancy used sperm collected with STAR did not require any extra IVF testing.
Dr. Williams believes the technology has broader potential for tackling other infertility challenges, potentially revealing biological details previously missed.
Source: https://www.newser.com/story/370036/after-19-years-of-trying-shes-pregnant-thanks-to-ai.html