UIC in the News

OverNiteMale™ offers ultimate in personal banking

February 5, 1997

by Carol Mattar

Sperm banking has become more convenient with OverNiteMale™, a new service of the University Andrology Laboratory and Sperm Bank at the UIC Medical Center.

OverNiteMale™ allows men to produce samples in their homes and send them overnight via FedEx to the UIC sperm bank, where they are frozen for future use.

Typical clients of the service are men prevented by distance, time, travel costs or health from traveling to one of the sperm bank's three locations.

The UIC sperm bank provides cryopreservation (freezing at ultra-low temperatuares) and long-term storage of sperm for men who want to preserve their ability to reproduce for a variety of reasons.

Frequently, users are men facing infertility because of chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer; removal of the prostate, which often causes impotence; occupational exposure to toxic substances; or vasectomy, said Gail Prins, director of the andrology laboratory and associate professor of urology.

Storage helps men with low sperm counts who can preserve multiple samples to be used in in vitro fertilization, the laboratory procedure in which eggs are fertilized, then implanted in the woman's uterus.

Sometimes the donor is the brother of an infertile man who wants to preserve family bloodlines, Prins said.Stricter government regulations have shut down many smaller labs that collected samples, reducing accessibility for many men, Prins said.

While the UIC sperm bank has three locations (at the UIC Medical Center, 840 S. Wood St.; the University Center for Urology, 900 N. Michigan Ave.; and the Southwest Highway Physician Center, 11824 Southwest Highway, Palos Heights), men outside the Chicago area face a long drive.

OverNiteMale™ provides a sample collection kit that includes a sterile jar and liquid to preserve sperm and ensure safe delivery for cryopreservation.

For more information about OverNiteMale™ and other services of the UIC andrology laboratory and sperm bank, call 996-7713.