Czech research group sees novel opportunities for AcouWash in fish sperm refinement
During the fall of 2021, AcouSort was visited for one month by a PhD student from the Czech Republic working within fish reproduction. The purpose was to investigate if the AcouWash technology could be used to separate fish sperm with high motility improving the insemination results in animal breeding and for future medicinal use.
The collaboration with this research group at the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice generated preliminary results indicating that it would be possible to isolate highly motile sperm from several different fish species using the AcouWash. Today there are no standard approaches for selection of highly motile sperm fraction from entire ejaculate in fishes. This obstacle complicates the understanding of real impact of in vitro sperm manipulation techniques, needed for fisheries and conservation programs.
The work by the Czech research group aims to understand the effects of cryopreservation of sperm, which has been shown to be detrimental to the insemination results. Further, the project will investigate possible ways of improving sperm quality after thawing and before insemination in several fish species, possessing of spermatozoa of different sperm dimensions. This study is supported by Czech Science Foundation (GACR).
As a result of the initial productive cooperation with AcouSort, the Czech group has now leased an AcouWash to finalize their work initiated in Lund and to further investigate the sperm quality in the AcouWash processed samples.
“Through the years, AcouSort has established a considerable number of academic partnerships. These collaborations have had positive results on our revenue and, even more importantly, they have let us acquire new insights into the vast possibilities of our unique technology. Our collaboration with the Czech team is a prime example of this as it has the potential of opening novel opportunities for our AcouWash technology,” says AcouSort’s CEO Torsten Freltoft.
