Latest news with #ColumbiaUniversityFertilityCenter
Time of India
2 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
AI helps woman get pregnant: Columbia University shares breakthrough
A long wait of nearly two decades has come to an end. Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system, in a couple that had been trying to start a family for over 19 years. What happened? In a groundbreaking development in reproductive medicine, researchers at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported the first successful pregnancy using an innovative AI-based procedure known as STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery). This advancement offers new hope to couples facing male infertility, particularly those with azoospermia—a condition characterized by the absence of detectable sperm in the ejaculate. What is Azoospermia? Azoospermia is a condition where there is a complete absence of sperm in a man's ejaculate. It's a significant cause of male infertility, as sperm are essential for fertilizing an egg. While azoospermia can make natural conception difficult, it doesn't necessarily mean a man cannot have children, as other reproductive technologies may be available. There are different types of azoospermia, such as: Obstructive azoospermia: Caused by a blockage in the reproductive tract that prevents sperm from being ejaculated. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo This can be due to conditions like infections, surgeries, or congenital abnormalities. Non-obstructive azoospermia: Results from a problem with sperm production in the testicles, potentially due to genetic disorders, hormonal imbalances, or other health issues. Azoospermia can be caused by a variety of factors, including: Genetic conditions: Certain genetic disorders, such as Klinefelter syndrome, can affect sperm production. Hormonal imbalances: Low levels of hormones, like testosterone, can impact sperm production. Infections: Infections of the reproductive tract, like epididymitis or urethritis, can damage the testicles. Surgical procedures: Previous surgeries, especially those involving the reproductive system, can sometimes lead to blockages. Congenital abnormalities: Some individuals are born with abnormalities in their reproductive system that can affect sperm production or transport. Overcoming azoospermia with AI technology: Now, azoospermia accounts for approximately 10% of male infertility cases, and traditional methods often fall short in identifying viable sperm within semen samples. Columbia's STAR system employs a combination of high-powered imaging technology and artificial intelligence to scan entire semen samples, capturing up to 8 million images per hour. The AI algorithm analyzes these images to detect and isolate rare sperm cells that might be missed by human embryologists. Once sperm are identified, a microfluidic chip directs them into separate channels, allowing for rapid and gentle isolation without the need for centrifugation or other potentially damaging procedures. This approach ensures that viable sperm are preserved and can be used for fertilization, offering a non-invasive and chemical-free alternative to previous methods. From infertility to parenthood: The significance of this breakthrough, which brings medical science and advanced technologies together, is amplified by the story of a couple who had been trying to conceive for nearly two decades. Despite undergoing 15 unsuccessful IVF cycles and repeated failures and heartbreak, their fortunes changed when they participated in a clinical trial utilizing the STAR system. The AI technology successfully identified viable sperm, leading to a successful pregnancy—a milestone that had eluded them for years. Dr. Zev Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center and leader of the STAR project, expressed optimism about the potential of AI in addressing various infertility challenges. He noted that while the STAR system was developed to tackle azoospermia, similar AI-driven technologies could be adapted to enhance other aspects of fertility treatment, such as embryo selection and genetic screening. Looking ahead: The success of the STAR system represents a significant advancement in the field of reproductive medicine. By integrating AI into fertility treatments, clinicians can achieve higher precision and efficiency, potentially reducing the number of cycles required for conception and improving overall success rates. Moreover, the automation of sperm identification and isolation processes can alleviate the workload of fertility specialists, allowing them to focus on other critical aspects of patient care. As AI technologies continue to evolve, they hold the promise of making fertility treatments more accessible, effective, and personalized for individuals and couples worldwide. While the STAR system is still in the experimental phase, its success offers a glimpse into the future of fertility care—one where artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in helping individuals achieve their dreams of parenthood. As research progresses, it is anticipated that AI will continue to revolutionize reproductive medicine, offering new solutions to longstanding challenges and bringing hope to many who have struggled with infertility. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on AI revolution and its impact on society at large: Full video One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Doctors Report the First Pregnancy Using a New AI Procedure
Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system, in a couple that had been trying to start a family for nearly two decades. The pregnancy was possible due to an advance developed by the Columbia team, led by Dr. Zev Williams, director of the center, to address azoospermia, or a lack of detectable sperm in the ejaculate. Male factors account for about 40% of infertility in the U.S., and azoospermia is responsible for about 10% of those cases. Until recently, there was little doctors could do to address the lack of sperm needed to fertilize an egg, other than using donor sperm. While to the naked eye, a sperm sample from a man with azoospermia might look normal, the microscope tells a different story, Williams says. Highly trained technicians rarely find any sperm in these samples, which are often filled with other debris. Add to that the fact that sperm are the smallest cell in the body, and it's not surprising that even the best fertility technicians rarely find sperm in azoospermia samples. That's where AI comes in. Williams and his team spent five years developing a system that combined an AI algorithm for detecting sperm with a fluidic chip that passed the semen sample through a tiny tubule on a plastic chip. If the AI picked up sperm, that tiny portion of semen would be directed to a separate tubule and collected. The few sperm isolated in this way could then be stored, frozen, or used to fertilize an egg. Called STAR, for Sperm Track and Recovery, the system was inspired by similar approaches that astrophysicists use to enlist AI to detect new stars and planets. 'If you can look into a sky that's filled with billions of stars and try to find a new one, or the birth of a new star, then maybe we can use that same approach to look through billions of cells and try to find that one specific one we are looking for,' says Williams. In this case, STAR is trained to pick up 'really, really, really rare sperm,' he says. '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 fertilize an egg.' Read More: IVF Patients Say a Test Caused Them to Discard Embryos. Now They're Suing STAR is distinct from AI systems that have been developed to scan and detect specific features, Williams says, because it combines that analysis with the ability to also actively isolate the target in question—in this case, any sperm found in a semen sample. The system can scan eight million images in about an hour, and Williams remembers the moment when he was convinced that STAR could become a powerful tool for treating certain forms of infertility. 'To test the system, before we discarded samples where embryologists could not find any sperm, we decided to run those samples 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 analyzed for two days and found no sperm, STAR found 44 in an hour.' Rosie and her husband became the first couple to get pregnant using STAR in March 2025. The couple spent nearly 19 years trying to get pregnant, and Rosie—who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy—says their Orthodox Jewish faith kept them hopeful during 15 unsuccessful IVF cycles. Prior to the pregnancy, they had explored multiple options to address her husband's azoospermia, including surgery and enlisting an expert from overseas to manually analyze and isolate sperm from his samples. They also researched efforts to extract sperm that were more controversial because they involved using chemicals that could potentially be detrimental to the quality of sperm. 'There really was nothing else out there,' says Rosie, 38, of their options before learning about STAR. 'Especially because I am running quite a few years ahead of where we should be [for fertility]. I'm not that old, but in fertility years—egg-wise—I was reaching my end.' They were introduced to Williams and his fertility program through a community group and learned everything they could about the system. 'We knew exactly what it was, and knew what they were trying to do,' says Rosie. 'If they could get sperm in a more natural way without chemicals and hopefully chose the good ones—if the program was able to do that, we knew we had a better chance.' Read More: Why It's So Hard to Have Your Fertility Tested For the couple, using STAR did not require any additional testing or procedures; their successful cycle in March proceeded no differently than any of the other IVF cycles they had experienced. 'We were keeping our hopes to a minimum after so many disappointments,' says Rosie. 'We came in, did what we had to do for the cycle, knowing there was probably a very small chance of anything happening. Why should this be any different from every other time?' Usually in an IVF cycle, there are far more sperm than eggs, says Williams, but in cases of azoospermia, the opposite is true. So to ensure that a couple has the best chance of a pregnancy, Williams and his team collect several batches of sperm using STAR and freeze them. Then they coordinate the mother-to-be's ovulation cycle on IVF, and on the day they retrieve her eggs, they collect a fresh semen sample, run it through STAR, and use any sperm collected to fertilize any available eggs. The frozen sperm serve as backup in case no fresh sperm can be found. Within two hours after collecting her husband's sperm that March, they learned that Rosie's eggs had been successfully fertilized and were ready to be transferred to her uterus a few days later. 'After the transfer, it took me two days to believe I was actually pregnant,' says Rosie. Now four months along, Rosie is receiving standard obstetric care, and all indications are that her pregnancy is proceeding well. 'I still wake up in the morning and can't believe if this is true or not,' she says. 'And I still don't believe [I'm pregnant] until I see the scans.' Williams says azoospermia is only one of many infertility issues that AI could address. 'There are things going on that we are blind to right now. But with the introduction of AI, we are being shown what those things are. 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.' Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Health
- Time Magazine
Doctors Report the First Pregnancy Using a New AI Procedure
Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system, in a couple that had been trying to start a family for nearly two decades. The pregnancy was possible due to an advance developed by the Columbia team, led by Dr. Zev Williams, director of the center, to address azoospermia, or a lack of detectable sperm in the ejaculate. Male factors account for about 40% of infertility in the U.S., and azoospermia is responsible for about 10% of those cases. Until recently, there was little doctors could do to address the lack of sperm needed to fertilize an egg, other than using donor sperm. While to the naked eye, a sperm sample from a man with azoospermia might look normal, the microscope tells a different story, Williams says. Highly trained technicians rarely find any sperm in these samples, which are often filled with other debris. Add to that the fact that sperm are the smallest cell in the body, and it's not surprising that even the best fertility technicians rarely find sperm in azoospermia samples. That's where AI comes in. Williams and his team spent five years developing a system that combined an AI algorithm for detecting sperm with a fluidic chip that passed the semen sample through a tiny tubule on a plastic chip. If the AI picked up sperm, that tiny portion of semen would be directed to a separate tubule and collected. The few sperm isolated in this way could then be stored, frozen, or used to fertilize an egg. Called STAR, for Sperm Track and Recovery, the system was inspired by similar approaches that astrophysicists use to enlist AI to detect new stars and planets. 'If you can look into a sky that's filled with billions of stars and try to find a new one, or the birth of a new star, then maybe we can use that same approach to look through billions of cells and try to find that one specific one we are looking for,' says Williams. In this case, STAR is trained to pick up 'really, really, really rare sperm,' he says. '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 fertilize an egg.' STAR is distinct from AI systems that have been developed to scan and detect specific features, Williams says, because it combines that analysis with the ability to also actively isolate the target in question—in this case, any sperm found in a semen sample. The system can scan eight million images in about an hour, and Williams remembers the moment when he was convinced that STAR could become a powerful tool for treating certain forms of infertility. 'To test the system, before we discarded samples where embryologists could not find any sperm, we decided to run those samples 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 analyzed for two days and found no sperm, STAR found 44 in an hour.' Rosie and her husband became the first couple to get pregnant using STAR in March 2025. The couple spent nearly 19 years trying to get pregnant, and Rosie—who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy—says their Orthodox Jewish faith kept them hopeful during 15 unsuccessful IVF cycles. Prior to the pregnancy, they had explored multiple options to address her husband's azoospermia, including surgery and enlisting an expert from overseas to manually analyze and isolate sperm from his samples. They also researched efforts to extract sperm that were more controversial because they involved using chemicals that could potentially be detrimental to the quality of sperm. 'There really was nothing else out there,' says Rosie, 38, of their options before learning about STAR. 'Especially because I am running quite a few years ahead of where we should be [for fertility]. I'm not that old, but in fertility years—egg-wise—I was reaching my end.' They were introduced to Williams and his fertility program through a community group and learned everything they could about the system. 'We knew exactly what it was, and knew what they were trying to do,' says Rosie. 'If they could get sperm in a more natural way without chemicals and hopefully chose the good ones—if the program was able to do that, we knew we had a better chance.' For the couple, using STAR did not require any additional testing or procedures; their successful cycle in March proceeded no differently than any of the other IVF cycles they had experienced. 'We were keeping our hopes to a minimum after so many disappointments,' says Rosie. 'We came in, did what we had to do for the cycle, knowing there was probably a very small chance of anything happening. Why should this be any different from every other time?' Usually in an IVF cycle, there are far more sperm than eggs, says Williams, but in cases of azoospermia, the opposite is true. So to ensure that a couple has the best chance of a pregnancy, Williams and his team collect several batches of sperm using STAR and freeze them. Then they coordinate the mother-to-be's ovulation cycle on IVF, and on the day they retrieve her eggs, they collect a fresh semen sample, run it through STAR, and use any sperm collected to fertilize any available eggs. The frozen sperm serve as backup in case no fresh sperm can be found. Within two hours after collecting her husband's sperm that March, they learned that Rosie's eggs had been successfully fertilized and were ready to be transferred to her uterus. 'After the transfer, it took me two days to believe I was actually pregnant,' says Rosie. Now four months along, Rosie is receiving standard obstetric care, and all indications are that her pregnancy is proceeding well. 'I still wake up in the morning and can't believe if this is true or not,' she says. 'And I still don't believe [I'm pregnant] until I see the scans.' Williams says azoospermia is only one of many infertility issues that AI could address. 'There are things going on that we are blind to right now. But with the introduction of AI, we are being shown what those things are. 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.'
Fox News
15-04-2025
- Health
- Fox News
More babies born to women over 40 than teens for first time in US history
The teen pregnancy epidemic could be waning, data suggests. For the first time in U.S. history, more women over the age of 40 are having kids compared to teen moms, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This reflects the trend of more Americans either opting not to have kids or postponing them until later. The total number of U.S. births declined by 14% between 1990 and 2023, according to the March 2025 report. During this time, birth rates among females younger than 20 decreased by 73%, marking the steepest percentage drop of all age groups. This resulted in a decline from one in eight teen births in 1990 to one in 25 in 2023. Women between 20 and 24 also had 44% fewer births from 1990 to 2023, while they dropped by 23% among 25- to 29-year-olds. The number of births among women aged 30 to 34 increased by 24%. Women between 35 and 39 experienced a steep 90% increase in births. Women 40 and older marked a new high for birth rates, seeing a 193% surge from 1990 to 2023. In 1990, women over 40 accounted for 1.2% of births. In 2023, that percentage had increased to 4.1%. Women over 30 accounted for more than one-half of births (51.4%) in 2023, compared to only three in 10 births in 1990. The CDC found that these age-specific changes caused a shift in maternal age distributions. In 1990, females younger than 30 accounted for seven in 10 births (69.8%). But in 2023, this age group accounted for less than one in two (48.6%). "The magnitude of the decrease in birth rates among females younger than 30 was greater than the magnitude of the increase in rates among women 30 and older, resulting in declining overall fertility rates," the CDC commented in the report. "The decline in fertility rates over the past few decades results from declining rates among females younger than 30, coupled with smaller increases in rates among older women." Dr. Ashley Wiltshire of the Columbia University Fertility Center in New York commented on this shift in fertility in an interview with Fox News Digital. "This shift is likely due to the combination of advancements in both contraception methodologies and assisted reproductive technology (ART)," she said. "The goal of both entities is to improve the overall reproductive autonomy for all women — from those who do not want to conceive to those who do." This includes people who seek out single parenthood, those in same-sex relationships and those who delay childbearing for personal or medical reasons, Wiltshire added. As egg freezing and embryo banking become more popular among women in their late 20s and 30s, Wiltshire agreed that these methods can "greatly increase an individual's odds of conceiving at later ages." "Additionally, donor egg is also a commonly utilized treatment option that can significantly improve the odds of pregnancy and livebirth later in life," she added.
