TTUHSC fertility pioneer reflects on nearly 50-year career

Samuel Prien, a TTUHSC professor who helped drive early assisted reproductive technology in Lubbock, is retiring in August after nearly five decades at Texas Tech. His work has contributed to thousands of births, multiple patents and a long training legacy across medicine, animal science and reproductive research.

Why it matters: - Samuel Prien’s career at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center helped shape fertility care in West Texas and beyond. - Prien said his work has contributed to at least 3,800 babies, a number he called an underestimate. - Prien’s research also crossed into livestock science, creating tools and methods that could affect both human fertility and cattle production.

What happened: - Prien is retiring in August after nearly 50 years with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. - Prien holds a dual appointment as a professor in the TTUHSC School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Texas Tech University Department of Animal and Food Sciences. - Prien said he has taught about 10,000 students across medicine, residency, undergraduate and graduate programs. - Sanjana Akula, a graduate student in TTU’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences, is among Prien’s final students.

The details: - Prien was part of TTUHSC’s first successful birth through Assisted Reproductive Technology in the late 1980s. - That first success used gamete intra-fallopian transfer, or GIFT, before the center later achieved its first IVF success about three months afterward. - Prien and Dustie Johnson, then a graduate student in TTU’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences, developed a semen collection cup that allowed semen to survive longer. - The team received a patent for the cup in 2005. - Prien and Lindsay Penrose, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at TTUHSC, later developed an improved version of the cup. - That improved device was patented in 2022 and is now sold as ProteX. - Prien and Penrose also developed the NovoSort barrier, which can isolate healthier sperm and may reduce the need for centrifugation, a process that can cause DNA damage. - Prien and Penrose invented a buoyancy-based method to select viable embryos for ART. - The buoyancy system uses non-invasive techniques and was patented in 2021. - Prien said the method came from a connection between cattle research and embryo evaluation. - Prien said the buoyancy approach has allowed researchers to estimate the weight of an egg cell and embryo and identify a range associated with better outcomes in cows. - The National Academy of Inventors named Prien to its inaugural class of Senior Members in 2019. - Prien became the first TTUHSC faculty member named an NAI Fellow in 2022.

Between the lines: - Prien’s office is filled with diplomas, awards, fellowships and patents, but he said student artwork and gifts matter more to him. - The story frames Prien less as a solo inventor and more as a mentor whose work multiplied through students and colleagues. - The mix of human fertility and animal science reflects how TTU’s research ecosystem helped drive his innovations. - Prien said the goal is not profit but helping more families take home healthy babies.

What’s next: - Prien plans to keep working after retirement, though he has not defined the next chapter. - Prien is continuing to teach Akula how to use the buoyancy method as part of his transition. - Prien said he has already been approached about new ideas and expects more possibilities ahead.

The bottom line: - After nearly five decades, Prien leaves behind a record of patents, firsts and trainees who will carry his methods forward.