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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A smartphone attachment has been developed to test sperm count [npr.org]:

Men may soon be able to take their own sperm count — at home. With a smartphone. Yes, there's an app for that. You may be asking yourself, why? Low sperm count is a marker for male infertility, a condition that is actually a neglected [nih.gov] health issue worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Current methods to diagnose male infertility require laboratory equipment that can cost up to $100,000. On top of that, standard methods often require a specially trained technician. A team of researchers at Harvard is trying to change that. Led by Hadi Shafiee [harvard.edu], an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who works on developing new tools for patient care, researchers have developed a rapid infertility diagnostic tool that attaches to a smartphone.

[...] The process is fairly simple. First, you load a small amount of a semen sample onto a disposable microchip. Then you put the microchip into the cell phone attachment through a slot. The attachment turns the phone's camera into a microscope. After the sample is loaded, you run the app, which allows the user to see a video of the sample. Then hit record, and the app analyzes the video to identify sperm cells and track their movements. At no point does semen touch the smartphone.

An automated smartphone-based diagnostic assay for point-of-care semen analysis [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aai7863) (DX [doi.org])

Original Submission