Automated vitrification of mammalian embryos on a digital microfluidic device

This paper presents the development of a digital microfluidic device to achieve automated sample preparation for the vitrification of mammalian embryos for clinical in vitro fertilization (IVF) applications. Individual micro droplets manipulated on a digital microfluidic device were used as micro-vessels to transport a single embryo through a complete vitrification procedure. The device showed cell survival and development rates of 77% and 90%, respectively, which are comparable to the control groups that were manually processed.