Co-axial Microinjection System for Freezing and Biopsy of Early Embryos

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目，德古拉移液器项目，旨在改进项目主任（Paul Taylor博士）发明的设备，并寻找制造该设备的方法。该装置是一种同轴显微注射工具，其中注射移液管从保持移液管内部呈现。这使得它可以吮吸并握住胚胎近侧表面的一部分，同时通过注射吸管进行注射、吸出液体内容物或对胚胎细胞进行活检。到目前为止，德古拉移液管一直是完全手工制作的，制作它，特别是制作精致的玻璃尖端，过于困难和耗时，以至于其他研究人员无法有效地使用它。该装置的真正意义在于，它允许在孵化囊胚发育阶段、从透明带孵化后和植入子宫之前控制和操纵胚胎。孵化后，这些胚胎没有真正的结构，不能像仍然在带内的胚胎通常所做的那样，从一侧握住并从另一侧穿透。人类胚胎作为孵化的囊胚存在两到三天，并且在着床前的这个分化程度最高的阶段没有很好的工具来操纵它。由于囊胚很大且充满液体，因此人类孵化的囊胚很难成功冷冻，也难以活检。尽管德古拉移液管对于其他物种的孵化囊胚和胚胎着床前的所有阶段的使用肯定是重要的，但它是唯一一种用于冷冻和活检人类孵化囊胚的工具。参与的小型企业GeneSearch， Inc.将提供目前最好的设备原型，供各种受人尊敬的胚胎研究人员在各种实验室环境中进行测试和实际使用，使用不同种类的动物模型。咨询师将提供有关他们使用该设备的经验的信息，以及他们为特定目的改进或更改该设备的想法。发明人和公司的设计工程师将努力纠正设计问题，因为他们发现，并将与各种微技术公司签订合同，生产特定的改进原型部件。随着这些评估和升级周期的继续，重点将转移到所有部件的实际制造，因此一个强大的，用户友好的设备可以呈现给科学界。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Project, the Dracula Pipette Project, is intended to improve on a device invented by the Project Director (Dr. Paul Taylor) and to find ways to manufacture the device for general use. The device is a co-axial microinjection tool in which the injection pipette is presented from inside the holding pipette. This allows it to suck and hold a portion of the nearside of the surface of an embryo while an injection pipette is passed for injection, aspiration of fluid contents or biopsy of embryonic cells. The Dracula Pipette has been entirely handmade until now, and making it, especially making the delicate glass tips involved, has been too difficult and time-consuming to allow it to be used effectively by other researchers. The real significance of this device is that it allows control and manipulation of embryos at the hatched blastocyst stage of development, after hatching from the zona pellucida and before implantation in the uterus. After hatching, these embryos have no real structure and cannot be held on one side and penetrated from the opposite side, as is done routinely with embryos still in the zona. The human embryo exists for two to three days as a hatched blastocyst, and there has been no good tool for manipulating it at this most-differentiated stage before implantation. Because it is large and fluid-filled, the human hatched blastocyst is difficult to freeze successfully, and difficult to biopsy. Though the Dracula Pipette will surely be important for use with the hatched blastocysts of other species and on embryos at all stages before implantation, it is the only tool on the horizon for freezing and biopsy of human hatched blastocysts. The Small Business entity involved, GeneSearch, Inc., will supply the current best prototype of the device for testing and practical use by a variety of respected embryo researchers in a variety of laboratory settings, working with different kinds of animal models. The consultants will provide information about their experiences with the device and their ideas for improving or changing it for specific purposes. The inventor and the company Design Engineer will work to correct design problems as they are identified and will contract with various micro-technology firms for production of specific improved prototype parts. As these cycles of evaluation and upgrade continue, emphasis will shift to practical manufacture of all parts, so a robust, user- friendly device can be presented to the scientific community. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The improved Dracula Pipette, with disposable plastic tips and micromanipulator control, will be an important addition to the instrumentation in almost all biotech labs dealing with embryos. It will open areas of research in freezing and biopsy of large hatched blastocysts, areas previously ignored because the tool was lacking. Most importantly, it will give human fertility clinicians a way to freeze and biopsy human hatched blastocysts, embryos at the most differentiated stage of development before implantation in the uterus.