Technologies for handling, sorting, and positioning of embryos are increasingly important in biomedicine. In this paper the status for ongoing projects aimed at developing instrumentation for high-throughput treatment of embryos is reviewed. Techniques for positioning of Drosophila (fruit-fly) embryos in 2-D arrays for use in microinjection experiments are especially focused. A method based on fluidic micro assembly is discussed, and important parameters such as immobilization yield, the number of misplaced embryos, and adhesion force of the embryos are reported. A model for the assembly process is described, and simulation results are in good agreement with adhesion force measurements. A fully automated MEMS based system for fruit-fly embryo injection has recently been demonstrated at Stanford University. The first experiments with double-stranded RNA injection proved successful, and the expected genetic modification of the embryos was observed.

Date Published: 30 December 2004
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 5641, MEMS/MOEMS Technologies and Applications II, (30 December 2004);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5641:
MEMS/MOEMS Technologies and Applications II
Zhichun Ma; Guofan Jin; Xuyuan Chen, Editor(s)