Automated cell surgery

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Recent advances in biological fields have heightened the interest and need for reliable micro-scale techniques which may be carried out on a large scale for both research purposes and diagnostic testing of embryos and other single cells. Such techniques include removal of polar bodies or blastomeres in diagnostic techniques including Prefertilization Genetic Diagnosis and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. These tools provide a practical alternative to prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancy if necessary. Further, stem cell research is expanding at an extremely rapid pace. For example, a cell from a patient who requires stem cell therapy is merged with a donor embryo. The nucleus is removed from the embryo and replaced with the nucleus of the patient's cell. Currently, these techniques are carried out manually by highly skilled technicians. Increasing demand for these techniques will soon exceed the capacity of existing manual techniques, creating the need for automated processing.