Methods for assessing risk of female infertility

Abstract

The invention generally relates to methods and devices for assessing risk of female infertility. In certain aspects, methods of the invention involve obtaining a sample, conducting an assay on at least one infertility-associated biomarker, and assessing risk to the patient of developing early-onset decrease in fertility based upon results of the assay.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for identifying a potential infertility biomarker, the system comprising:
 a processor; and   a computer-readable storage device containing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to:
 receive data on a set of genes, the set comprising genes known to be associated with infertility and genes having no prior association with infertility; 
 perform a cluster analysis to identify one or more of the genes that have no prior association with infertility that cluster with one or more of the genes known to be associated with infertility; and 
 identify at least one of the genes having no prior association with infertility as a potential infertility biomarker based on it clustering with one or more genes known to be associated with infertility.