Inherent Biosciences lands $2M NIH grant for male infertility test
What's the deal? Inherent BiosciencesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, operating as Path FertilityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, has received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to develop and clinically validate a semen-based diagnostic for severe male infertility. The two-year award was issued through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → under its Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research program.
What's the endgame? The Salt Lake City company is building a test for non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), a condition in which the testes produce little or no sperm. It examines epigenetic changes tied to impaired sperm production, aiming to explain cases that current methods — including chromosome analysis and Y-chromosome microdeletion testing — leave unresolved.
The research centres on epimutations affecting MSH5, a gene involved in DNA repair. Earlier work led by Dr. Dolores Lamb, with support from Inherent Biosciences, found MSH5 epimutations in as many as 19% of men with NOA.
Why now? The announcement coincides with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2026 Scientific Congress & Expo in Baltimore, where Path Fertility is presenting two studies on diagnosing male infertility and predicting treatment outcomes.
NOA affects roughly 1% of men worldwide and is linked to higher risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease, though the mechanisms remain poorly understood.
What's the money for? The project includes a multisite clinical study to establish how often MSH5 epimutations occur in men with NOA. Path Fertility will also develop a semen-based reflex test that removes the need for a separate blood draw, and measure MSH5 epimutations in 500 colorectal cancer patients to probe links to DNA repair defects.
The company plans to validate the assay in a laboratory certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments and launch it commercially as a laboratory-developed test. It will be folded into NOA Guide, Path Fertility's platform that predicts whether sperm can be surgically retrieved.
"Men with non-obstructive azoospermia are often told there is no explanation for their infertility, and rarely told it may signal risks to their overall health," said Kristin Brogaard, co-founder and chief scientific officer and principal investigator on the award. "This award lets us confirm that finding across multiple clinical sites and turn it into a simple semen-based test."
The signal: The grant marks federal investment in reproductive-health diagnostics that connect male infertility to broader disease risk. At $2 million, it ranks among the larger tech-focused rounds in its category, sitting in the 90th percentile across all-time grant rounds in the space.
Read more: citybiz.co
Image credit: Inherent Biosciences
