Semi-automated blastocyst microinjection

The focus of this paper is the design and development of a semi-automated system for microinjection of embryonic stem cells into blastocysts. Semi-automation is achieved through treating cell microinjection as a computer game. In this first phase, cell manipulation and microinjection is carried out using a joystick and an interactive graphical user interface (GUI). For this system to be developed further, to achieve full automation, this first phase had to succeed. The interactive GUI records and displays: real-time video images of the cells; processed images of cells; and the microinjection strategies adopted by operators during cell manipulation through a real-time video processing algorithm. Experiments showed that this first phase of the research was successful. Future research develop knowledge-based controllers using machine-learning techniques as the research drives towards its goal of fully automated cell microinjection