GAMEET

One in six couples worldwide is unable to conceive naturally. More than 5 million assisted reproduction treatments (ART) are performed each year, and the number has doubled in the last five years due to delayed childbearing and family diversity. Despite advances, ART remains costly and inefficient: only 25–30% of treatments achieve a full-term pregnancy. This forces many couples to repeat attempts, at a high economic and emotional cost. The main causes of this low efficacy are the lack of standardized protocols, manual manipulation, and the omission of key processes such as sperm selection and maturation, which occur naturally in the female reproductive tract. Recent evidence shows that sperm quality affects not only fertilization but also pregnancy success, reinforcing the need for better sperm selection methods and more consistent procedures. For this reason, new techniques have been developed to improve sperm selection and embryo evaluation, while scientific warnings about the negative effects of excessive manipulation of gametes and embryos are growing.