Software Based Vision System for Automated Cell Injection

Recent developments in nuclear reprogramming and intracytoplasmic sperm injection reflect an increasing need for more advanced and automatic micromanipulation technologies. In this paper, we present an automatic cell injection system, which is capable of visually monitoring the injecting process and controlling the microactuators. Traditionally, cell injection was manually operated. However, it was laborious, time consuming, of low accuracy, and prone to contamination due to the handling requirement. An automatic and efficient strategy is required to eliminate all these drawbacks. In our system, the whole injection process is monitored and controlled by software. The precision achieved is physically proven to be within a good tolerance range.