Although male infertility is as common as female infertility, it often goes undiagnosed because of socioeconomic factors such as stigma, high cost of testing, and availability of laboratory facilities.
Dr. Shafiee and his team developed a smartphone based system for semen analysis that can be used to facilitate testing at home or in a remote clinic without access to laboratory equipment. The approach uses an inexpensive device that attaches directly to a phone and is operated through a smartphone application that automatically measures the vital statistics.
The system performed as well as clinical systems when tested by both trained and untrained users and is being used for human infertility, vasectomy testing, general health monitoring, and animal husbandry. The findings have been published in the Science Translational Medicine Medical Journal which can be viewed here.