Experiments with a teleoperated system for improved bio-micromanipulations

Cell and embryo microinjections, like many other biomanipulation tasks, involve delicate and precise manual control of micropipettes under a microscope. These operations are repeatedly carried out by highly trained personnel, who spend hours peering through the binoculars of the microscope. As a result, the taxing working conditions and the skills of the operators have a significant impact on the results of the operations. To facilitate the training of new operators and to improve the consistency and efficiency rates of microinjections, we have developed a teleoperated system that demonstrated remarkable improvements in performance and skill acquisition levels during blastocyst microinjection tasks. It combined the advantages of easy, controlled and accurate teleoperation with a more ergonomic work environment, resulting in outstanding reduction in operator training period and amateur performances comparable to those of highly trained operators. This new system, which is fully controlled from a remote computer using a game joystick, was evaluated by comparing teleoperated blastocyst microinjections conducted by one expert and two amateurs. Further, these results were compared to those from expert microinjections conducted on a conventional system. The experiments demonstrated fast learning on the new system and high microinjection success rates (around 90%) for all operators after only three microinjection sessions. Microinjection quality on the new teleoperated system also proved to be high. This was assessed by having the embryos develop to term and computing the birth rates. Higher birth rates (up to twice as high) were observed for embryos injected on the novel system than for those injected on the traditional system. These results prove that the incorporation of robotics into biomanipulation improves the efficiency of the operations, and of the operator, and it eliminates the need for extensive training of microinjection personnel.