FDA Approves Smartphone-based Sperm Testing System

December 23, 2016

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New app lets men check their fertility without leaving home.

The FDA has approved an at-home sperm count test for your smartphone.

In a major development, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States has approved a smartphone-based sperm testing system.

YO Home Sperm Test is due to be released in January 2017. Created by Medical Electronic Systems, “a global leader in rapid, automated semen analysis and the supporting software management systems for hospitals and laboratories,” the hardware side of the system is a miniature microscope that attaches to an Android or Apple smartphone.

Once attached, the user then supplies a sperm sample. Using the phone’s own camera and lighting, the unit then allows for the examination and even an accurate count of active (motile) sperm.

To help with the analysis, the unit also comes with a container, a pipette, and a liquefying powder that has to be added to the sample before it can be tested.

As the sperm needs to rest for ten minutes after being collected and mixed with the liquefying powder, the software side of things provides a quick sperm trivia challenge—though it’s unclear what, if anything, a winning score generates.

It’s unclear if Medical Electronic Systems worked with Yoshitomo Kobori, who, as we reported here at Future of Sex, had recently developed a $7 micro lens that could also allow men to view and count their sperm.

That the YO Home Sperm Test has received FDA approval is a big step. It could very well open the door to other forms of sexual self-testing and examination being greenlit in the future.

Image source: YO Sperm Test

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.