After 19 years of trying for a baby, this couple lost hope. But AI made it happen
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Just like astrophysicists use AI to find new stars, Columbia University Fertility Center researchers developed STAR to detect 'really, really, really rare sperm', the kind lab technicians fail to find in azoospermia samples. 'I liken it to finding a needle hidden within a thousand haystacks. But it can do that in a couple of hours — and so gently that the sperm that we recover can be used to fertilise an egg,' Dr Zev Williams, STAR developer and fertility centre director told Time Magazine.
For five years, Williams and his team perfected the system using a sperm-detecting AI algorithm. The process starts with a fluidic chip flowing the semen sample through a small tube on a plastic chip. Once AI confirms sperm presence, that bit of semen is diverted to a separate tube. Whatever few sperm there are in the sample can be isolated in such a way, and either used to fertilise an egg or frozen for later use.
That's exactly what Williams and his team did for the couple.
Just two hours after collecting the husband's sperm, they got to know the wife's eggs had been successfully fertilised, ready for transfer to the uterus in a few days. The wife is four months pregnant now and both the mother and fetus are doing well.
To serve as a test, embryologists analysed a sample for two days but found no sperm. STAR AI found 44 in an hour
Dr Zev Williams, director, Columbia University Fertility Center
Columbia University Fertility Center says the STAR system is a groundbreaking advancement for men diagnosed with azoospermia, adding, 'This system can detect and retrieve even the smallest numbers of sperm gently and without harsh chemicals or lasers, using cutting-edge AI, high-speed imaging, and robotics.'
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What makes STAR ahead of other AI detecting systems is that it can also successfully isolate the sperm in a semen sample where male infertility is involved. 'As a test, we decided to run samples where embryologists could not find any sperm through the system. The embryologists really worked hard to find sperm, since they didn't want to be outshone by a machine. In one of the samples, they analysed for two days and found no sperm.
STAR found 44 in an hour,' says Williams.
Azoospermia affects around 1% of all men and accounts for 10% of all male fertility issues. The most common cause of the condition is a blockage in the male reproductive tract. Other causes include genetic conditions, hormonal imbalances, endocrine disorders, radiation therapy, environmental toxins, and drug or alcohol abuse. Williams says azoospermia is one of the many fertility issues that his AI STAR system could find a solution to.
'The dream is to develop technologies so that those who are told 'you have no chance of being able to have a child' can now go on to have healthy children,' he adds. Agencies
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Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
AI makes pregnancy possible for a couple after 18 years of infertility
After nearly two decades of unsuccessful fertility treatments, one couple is finally expecting their first child—thanks to artificial intelligence. Diagnosed with azoospermia, a rare condition in which no measurable sperm are found in the male partner's semen, the couple had all but given up hope after multiple failed IVF attempts. But at Columbia University Fertility Center, a groundbreaking AI tool known as the STAR method identified hidden sperm cells once thought undetectable. Those few sperm were used to fertilize eggs, leading to a successful pregnancy . The couple's baby is due in December. How AI turned infertility into pregnancy Artificial intelligence is now playing a game-changing role in fertility care. In this case, it enabled a successful pregnancy by detecting hidden sperm in a sample previously deemed sterile. Using a technique known as the STAR method—short for Sperm Tracking and Recovery—AI scanned the semen sample with unprecedented precision, uncovering three viable sperm cells. These were used in IVF, leading to the couple's first pregnancy after 18 years of failed attempts and heartbreak. Azoospermia affects about 10% of men with infertility and is often a devastating diagnosis. Unlike other forms of male infertility, azoospermia shows no outward symptoms. The semen appears normal, but under a microscope, there are no sperm to be found—only debris and fragments. Traditional treatment options include invasive surgery to extract sperm directly from the testes, a painful and often fruitless procedure. For years, this left couples with few alternatives beyond donor sperm or adoption. The STAR system: high-speed imaging meets AI Developed at Columbia University over five years, the STAR system uses AI-powered high-speed imaging to analyze semen samples. It captures over 8 million images in under an hour to locate viable sperm. Once detected, the sperm are gently isolated for use in IVF. In a previous trial, the STAR system found 44 sperm in a sample that had already been examined and deemed infertile by human embryologists—demonstrating its unmatched accuracy. Hope for couples around the world The couple who conceived using STAR's AI-assisted method are the first documented case of pregnancy resulting from sperm identified by this technology alone. 'It still doesn't feel real,' the wife said. 'After all the failures, I never thought I'd see a positive pregnancy scan.' Their story is now inspiring others who face similar fertility struggles, offering a glimpse of what may soon be a global breakthrough in reproductive medicine. The future of AI in fertility care Experts believe AI will continue to revolutionize reproductive health by improving diagnosis, guiding embryo selection, and personalizing IVF treatments. Tools like STAR are already showing that AI can amplify, not replace, human expertise—making processes faster, safer, and more precise. While costs for the STAR procedure remain under $3,000, researchers hope to expand access and bring this promising innovation to fertility clinics worldwide. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
3 days ago
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'Miracle': After 15 failed IVFs and 19 years of tears, how AI helped a couple finally have a baby
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel It sounds almost unbelievable, but artificial intelligence has just helped a couple get pregnant after 19 long years of failed attempts. Diagnosed with azoospermia, a condition where no sperm are detectable in the ejaculate, the couple had been through 15 heartbreaking IVF failures. But in March this year, their journey took a miraculous turn, thanks to a pioneering AI tool developed by scientists at Columbia University Fertility tool, aptly named Sperm Track and Recovery (STAR), works much like AI systems used by astrophysicists to detect rare stars in the sky, except this one hunts for extremely rare sperm in semen to Dr Zev Williams, the lead researcher and developer of STAR, 'It's like finding a needle not just in a haystack, but in a thousand haystacks.' In an interview with Time Magazine, he explained how the system can locate living sperm that traditional lab techniques often miss, and do so in under two technology combines AI, high-speed imaging and robotics. A fluidic chip is used to flow a semen sample through a small plastic tube. If the AI algorithm detects even a single viable sperm, that portion of the fluid is isolated in a separate tube, ready to be used for fertilisation or frozen for later exactly what happened in this couple's case. Within two hours of collecting the husband's sample, the AI system had not only identified sperm but helped fertilise the wife's eggs. Just a few days later, the fertilised embryo was transferred to her uterus. Four months on, the mother-to-be and the baby are both doing stands out for its ability to detect sperm in cases where even trained embryologists fall short. Dr Williams recalled an internal test where embryologists spent two days analysing a sample and found no sperm. STAR found 44 viable sperm in just an hour. 'They didn't want to be outdone by a machine,' he joked, but the results were gentle, chemical-free method marks a massive leap forward in tackling male infertility, particularly azoospermia, which affects around 1% of all men and is responsible for 10% of male infertility Williams says STAR could soon help redefine possibilities for many men and couples who have lost hope. 'The dream is to develop technologies so that those who are told 'you have no chance of being able to have a child' can now go on to have healthy children,' he told such scientific breakthroughs, it's no longer just wishful thinking, it's becoming from agencies
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
After 19 years of trying for a baby, this couple lost hope. But AI made it happen
Artificial intelligence is making swift strides in healthcare in a short time — and now, in a first, it has even helped a couple get pregnant. After 19 years of trying to start a family, with azoospermia (no detectable sperm in ejaculate) and 15 failed IVF cycles, the couple finally became pregnant in March this year after using what is called a Sperm Track and Recovery (STAR) system. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Just like astrophysicists use AI to find new stars, Columbia University Fertility Center researchers developed STAR to detect 'really, really, really rare sperm', the kind lab technicians fail to find in azoospermia samples. 'I liken it to finding a needle hidden within a thousand haystacks. But it can do that in a couple of hours — and so gently that the sperm that we recover can be used to fertilise an egg,' Dr Zev Williams, STAR developer and fertility centre director told Time Magazine. For five years, Williams and his team perfected the system using a sperm-detecting AI algorithm. The process starts with a fluidic chip flowing the semen sample through a small tube on a plastic chip. Once AI confirms sperm presence, that bit of semen is diverted to a separate tube. Whatever few sperm there are in the sample can be isolated in such a way, and either used to fertilise an egg or frozen for later use. That's exactly what Williams and his team did for the couple. Just two hours after collecting the husband's sperm, they got to know the wife's eggs had been successfully fertilised, ready for transfer to the uterus in a few days. The wife is four months pregnant now and both the mother and fetus are doing well. To serve as a test, embryologists analysed a sample for two days but found no sperm. STAR AI found 44 in an hour Dr Zev Williams, director, Columbia University Fertility Center Columbia University Fertility Center says the STAR system is a groundbreaking advancement for men diagnosed with azoospermia, adding, 'This system can detect and retrieve even the smallest numbers of sperm gently and without harsh chemicals or lasers, using cutting-edge AI, high-speed imaging, and robotics.' Tired of too many ads? go ad free now What makes STAR ahead of other AI detecting systems is that it can also successfully isolate the sperm in a semen sample where male infertility is involved. 'As a test, we decided to run samples where embryologists could not find any sperm through the system. The embryologists really worked hard to find sperm, since they didn't want to be outshone by a machine. In one of the samples, they analysed for two days and found no sperm. STAR found 44 in an hour,' says Williams. Azoospermia affects around 1% of all men and accounts for 10% of all male fertility issues. The most common cause of the condition is a blockage in the male reproductive tract. Other causes include genetic conditions, hormonal imbalances, endocrine disorders, radiation therapy, environmental toxins, and drug or alcohol abuse. Williams says azoospermia is one of the many fertility issues that his AI STAR system could find a solution to. 'The dream is to develop technologies so that those who are told 'you have no chance of being able to have a child' can now go on to have healthy children,' he adds. Agencies
