Picking healthier sperm by their metabolism to improve fertility treatments
Official title: Selecting sperm with distinct metabolic phenotypes to increase ART efficiency
Funded at East Carolina University · NIH-11321692 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses sperm metabolism and movement patterns to pick sperm that may help couples using IVF/ICSI produce more healthy embryos.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | East Carolina University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Greenville, United States) |
| Project start | April 19, 2023 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $505,226 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD110170-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11321692 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are couples undergoing assisted reproductive treatments (especially IVF with ICSI) and men able to provide sperm samples, including those with male-factor infertility or prior failed cycles.
✕Less likely to help
People whose infertility is caused only by egg quality or uterine issues and not by sperm problems may not see direct benefit from these sperm-selection methods.
What this research studies
If you're going through IVF, researchers will analyze how sperm use energy and switch movement patterns to identify features of the healthiest sperm. They will measure sperm bioenergetics and signs of oxidative or DNA damage and develop lab methods to select sperm with better fertilization ability for use in ICSI. The work uses human sperm samples and lab-based testing, including approaches that mimic natural signals like chemotaxis and the acrosome reaction. By improving sperm selection in the clinic, the team hopes to increase the number of healthy preimplantation embryos and reduce the need for multiple costly treatment cycles.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could increase the number of healthy embryos created during ART and lower the number of expensive IVF/ICSI cycles families need.
How similar studies have gone: Some sperm-selection techniques exist but have mixed results, and using detailed metabolic phenotypes to guide selection is a newer and still experimental approach.
Where this research is happening
-
East Carolina University
Greenville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Geyer, Christopher Bennett — East Carolina University
- Study coordinator: Geyer, Christopher Bennett
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.