Microfluidic embryo culture
Culture of embryos and maturation of oocytes are traditionally done in microdrops of culture media in petri dishes under an oil overlay to isolate the drops and to reduce evaporation. It is increasingly recognised that this technique has shortcomings. Embryo development is boosted by culture in a small volume of media, but the conventional microdrop-based system makes small volume culture difficult and through influence of the oil, possibly ineffective. It is likely that perfusion culture, where the media is changed periodically without disturbing the embryo, will prove to be better than conventional static culture; in the conventional system change of media is very difficult without sudden changes in the embryo’s environment.
Microfluidics is the technology of handling small volumes of liquid in microscopic environments. Microfluidic embryo perfusion culture is set to transform the way that embryo culture is performed, firstly in animal reproduction, and following that, in human IVF.
RoBio Systems’ designs are based on a defined, small volume culture well fed by microfluidic channels for change of media. This allows the greatest flexibility to optimise the culture conditions within the well. Each well is individually accessible and the wells have excellent visibility, allowing the contents to be observed with the same resolution as in microdrop culture. Single well and multi-well devices are under development.
