A SPERM-SORTING machine could soon allow fertility clinics to filter out sperm that have a type of DNA damage associated with infertility and a heightened risk of childhood cancers in offspring.
Mechanised sorting should be particularly useful when a would-be father is older, or is a heavy smoker or has been exposed to pollution in the workplace – all factors that increase this type of DNA damage.
When attempting IVF with sperm from men with fertility problems, clinics usually centrifuge the semen to increase the concentration of the densest sperm cells, which tend to be the healthier ones. For certain fertility…
