Drawbacks of current IVF incubators and novel minimal embryo stress incubator design

Incubation is an extremely important phase for the success of an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedure. Maintaining the optimum environmental conditions to promote healthy growth of the embryos is the primary responsibility of an IVF incubator. The major limitation among various types of incubators currently available in the market is the fluctuation of environmental conditions following every door opening to examine only one embryo, affecting all embryos in the common compartment. This elevates embryo stress leading to lower IVF success rates. This paper outlines; the incubation process, issues perceived during the incubation process, the introduction to a novel incubator design to overcome the outlined limitations and the presentation of a prototype for the proposed design.