Developing AI-assisted sperm analysis and selection for fertility treatment
Assisted reproduction depends on selecting high-quality sperm, but selection can be manual, slow and subjective. Fertility treatment is physically, psychologically and financially demanding, with no guarantee of success. Better sperm assessment could help laboratories make more consistent selections.
Spermotile is developing a sperm-selection platform combining stain-free microscopy, AI-assisted semen analysis and microfluidic filtration. It is designed to help fertility laboratories assess and collect high-quality sperm for assisted reproduction.
What stands out about Spermotile
UiT received an EIC Transition award of approximately EUR 2,500,000 for the Spermotile research project running from April 2025 to September 2027.
Founder-led research analyzed anonymized human sperm samples to characterize motion patterns beyond swimming speed.
Spermotile was jointly developed by researchers at UiT and the University Hospital of North Norway.
Selected for Nordic Innovation House's 2023-2024 REACH incubator, providing Silicon Valley mentoring and commercialization training.
Founder Krishna Agarwal is a UiT professor with a PhD and research expertise in computational nanoscopy and microscopy.
Dilip K. Prasad also founded Finiac and previously founded the online ventures gpl4you.com and techaloo.com.
Dilip K. Prasad received the 2025 Femina Achievers North award for Excellence in Fertility Treatment Innovation.
Dilip K. Prasad trained in entrepreneurship at MIT through the 2011 Kauffman Global Scholarship.
Dilip K. Prasad trained in entrepreneurship at Harvard University through the 2011 Kauffman Global Scholarship.
Dilip K. Prasad worked at Philips before completing his computer-science PhD at Nanyang Technological University.
The earlier Spermotile ERC Proof of Concept project was awarded EUR 150,000 for UiT and Norinnova, running from 2023 to January 2025.
Dilip K. Prasad is a UiT computer-science professor with a PhD from Nanyang Technological University and expertise in artificial intelligence.
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