Jessop Fertility involved in development of new "sperm radar" test

Jessop Fertility and scientists at the University of Sheffield have developed a new technique to examine human sperm without killing them - helping to improve the diagnosis of fertility problems. 

The Jessop Fertility Andrology team have been involved in collecting semen samples for this ground-breaking research.

The newly developed test uses Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to examine the molecules in live sperm. Early data suggests it could discriminate between populations of good and poor sperm. This means the test might be useful to improve diagnosis of sperm problems: because it is non-destructive, the sperm examined could be used in fertility treatments after analysis.

Research Fellow Dr Steven Reynolds said: “It might one day allow us to design specific therapies for men with poor sperm that might help give them a boost.”

The study was published 24 May 2017 in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction and was funded by an Medical Research Council grant “Spectroscopic Probes Of Energy Regulation And Metabolism (SPERM): Using High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Of Metabolic Pathways To Identify Potential Biomarkers Of Male Fertility” (Grant Ref