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UB start-up provides innovative digital sperm analysis to infertile couples worldwide

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Couples struggling with fertility problems have a new option for assessing their ability to have a child with the start-up of a new Buffalo-based company called LifeCell Dx, Inc. (LCDX).

The company was founded by Lani J. Burkman, Ph.D., a reproductive physiologist in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a nationally recognized specialist in andrology, the medical specialty dealing with male reproduction.

Burkman provided sophisticated sperm evaluation services at Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo for 14 years, using her proprietary methods and computer-assisted semen analysis. Her new patent-pending technologies now make digital semen analysis available to affiliated clinical sites worldwide through the Internet.

Over the past 20 years, Burkman has developed unique sperm fertility tests, including special methods for computer tracking of vigorous swimming patterns and binding of sperm to the cover of human eggs. She has focused on sperm functioning that can predict whether a man is fertile, as well as on studies on marijuana and methamphetamine -- chemicals that alter sperm fertility.

Previously, she was a member of the Norfolk, Va., clinic that performed the first successful in vitro fertilization in the U.S, and produced key advances in sperm evaluation. Her UB laboratory carried out clinical and basic research on new contraceptive drugs, on the use of sperm for toxicity testing and on the negative effects of nicotine on sperm.

LCDX supplies the necessary equipment -- including a microscope and camera -- at no cost to U.S. and Canadian clinics who become affiliated with the company. Clinic physicians create a digitized video of the sperm sample and transmit the video over the Internet to the LCDX central computer lab in Buffalo. The proprietary videos are analyzed by Burkman and her staff, who provide a detailed LCPredict rep

Contact: Lois Baker
ljbaker@buffalo.edu
716-645-4606
University at Buffalo
Source:Eurekalert