A portable fertility test enabling men to test the quality of their sperm from the privacy of their own homes has been invented by scientists.
Researchers in the US say their easy-to-use kit could be available to consumers as early as next year, meaning men focussed on their fertility issues would no longer have to endure frequent trips to the doctor to test their sperm.
Greg Sommer and Ulrich Schaff, who founded a startup company to develop their device, say the tests can give a result within minutes.
Scientists say they have invented a portable fertility test enabling men to test the quality of their sperm from the privacy of their own homes, without enduring frequent trips to a doctor
They are now working on a mobile app so that men can use their phones to study to results of the test, and learn how to discuss them with doctors.
'It allows men to test and track their fertility from the comfort and privacy of their own homes,' Mr Sommer told the Albuquerque Journal.
'It's a portable, easy-to-use diagnostic system with the accuracy of a clinical lab test.'
The scientists came up with their idea while working at Sandia National Laboratories in California, where they created a device that quickly detects toxins or other biological threats in emergency first responders.
Mr Sommer, who with his partner is now looking to market the device to consumers through a partnership with an established medical company, said that fertility solutions have traditionally been more focused on women
The pair then licensed the technology from Sandia, which formed the basis for their device, and in 2012, they founded Sandstone Diagnostics Inc., to develop the fertility-test kit, which they called TrakFertility.
Mr Sommer, who with his partner is now looking to market the device to consumers through a partnership with an established medical company, said that fertility solutions have traditionally been more focused on women.
'We want to help people conceive in a way never done before,' he said.
'The market today is completely focused on females to monitor hormones, temperatures and so forth for peak fertility windows each month. But one of every five men has low-sperm counts that can impair conception.'
Researchers behind the device say the test results are as accurate as those completed in a laboratory
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2614350/Scientists-invent-portable-fertility-test-enabling-men-test-quality-sperm-homes.html#ixzz3078kEibu
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