IOP Business Start-Up Award: Dyneval

Dyneval was founded in April 2020 with a mission to become the experts’ choice for semen quality assessment. The Dynescan Semen Analyser was launched in the veterinary sector in March 2022, providing the first quality control standard for semen quality assessment that can be used by anyone across the livestock production industry. 

The underlying technology is based on the application of advanced physics to extract parameters describing the swimming behaviour of microorganisms such as spermatozoa from the fluctuations in intensity of light passing through a sample. Previous technologies required cells to be tracked from frame to frame, which limits the concentration range over which measurements can be performed, is dependent on the user criteria and creates errors of up to 10 per cent standard deviation.

Dynescan technology is automated, portable and precise at less than three per cent standard deviation and works across a broad range of concentrations, making accurate measurements easy for any type of user. The patented Dynescan enables lab-quality measurements at the farm thus providing an innovative solution with the potential to improve food security and health and wellbeing.

The average UK dairy farmer is losing £37,000 per year due to the 20 per cent drop-in conception rates over the past 40 years. The portable Dynescan helps vets and farm technicians identify poorly motile and damaged semen before use and thereby improve conception rates to improve the profitability of farming while reducing the environmental impact of protein production from livestock.

Longer-term, the team at Dyneval plan to strengthen commercial opportunities and export abroad to generate new datasets concerning male livestock fertility at a global level to guide data-driven decisions for sustainable outcomes. The team also plans to exploit the technology in the medical device industry, establishing Dyneval technology as the experts’ choice for semen assessment.