Micromanipulation

This guide to micromanipulation techniques, for assisted conception in a clinical setting, includes detailed descriptions of all common micromanipulation systems currently in use in IVF laboratories. In explaining how to optimize their successful use, the volume covers state-of-the-art techniques including ICSI, and procedures such as assisted hatching and the blastomere biopsy (for PGD). Valuable information on troubleshooting mechanical and technical difficulties is provided to help professionals ranging from technicians to consultant obstetricians master the techniques.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Micromanipulation" that was published in Actuators

Microrobotics is an emerging and booming area with many and various applications, including in fields such as industrial/manufacturing robotics, medical robotics, and laboratory instrumentation. Microrobotics for Micromanipulation presents for the first time, in detail, a treatment of the field of robotics dedicated to handling objects of micrometer dimensions. At these dimensions, the behavior of objects is significantly different from the better known, larger scales, which leads to implementation techniques that can be radically different from the more commonly used solutions. This book details the behaviors of objects at the micrometer scale and provides robotics solutions that are suitable, in terms of actuators, grippers, manipulators, environmental perception, and microtechnology. Worked examples are included in the book - enabling engineers, students and researchers to familiarize themselves with this emerging area and to contribute to its development.

This book offers readers a series of robotic methods for manipulating zebrafish larva, one of the most popular model vertebrates widely used in biomedical research and clinical applications. The authors leverage advanced control theories, image processing algorithms, and artificial intelligence to establish a robot-assisted automated or semi-automated zebrafish larva-targeted micromanipulation system for different experimental purposes. The methods presented are generic and can be translated to manipulate other types of biological objects, such as embryos or cells. Coverage includes topics that span the procedures of manipulating zebrafish larva, such as in-plane positioning, three-dimensional orientation, deformation-controllable immobilization, organ-targeted microinjection, whole-organism imaging, and high-throughput trajectory tracking of zebrafish larvae group movement. Robotic Micromanipulation of Zebrafish Larva is written in a simple, clear, and easy-to-read style. It is an ideal reference for academic researchers and biomedical operators. It is also a valuable resource for students learning robotics, control and system theories, image processing, artificial intelligence, and biomedical engineering.

In the course of the years since H. D. SCHMIDT, in 1895, describcd his "microscopic dissector," a mechanical device for dissecting and study ing biological materials, a great wealth of information has been pub lished in the scientific and technical literature on methods involving the use of exceedingly delicate microtools mechanically guided under microscopic control for the investigation of microscopic structures and very small amounts of material.. The operative tools used can be moved with considerable precision under various microscopic magnifications to perform the required tasks. With the continuous progress in these methods, hundreds of micro manipulators and other mechanical manipulativc devices, auxiliaryequip ment, and a great diversity of microtools have been described for per forming varied operations on practically any type of materials and test objects. Thus, micromanipulative and related techniques have become innumerable and often intricate, and the applications, formerly confined to certain fields of biology and medicine, have been extended to the most diverse fields of science and technology as mtn be Been from a rapid glance at the contents of the presEmt volume.

This book provides an overview of the noteworthy developments in the field of micromachining, with a specific focus on microinjection systems used for biological micromanipulation. The author also explores the design, development, and fabrication of new mechanical designs for micromachines, with plenty of examples that elucidate their modeling and control. The design and fabrication of a piezoelectric microinjector, constant force microinjector, constant force microgripper, PDVF microforce sensor, and a piezoelectric microsyringe are presented as examples of new technology for microinjection systems. This book is appropriate for both researchers and advanced students in bioengineering.

There are probably few people who do not dream of the good old times, when do ing science often meant fascination, excitement, even adventure. In our time, do ing science involves often technology and, perhaps, even business. But there are still niches where curiosity and fascination have their place. The subject of this book, technological as its title may sound, is one of the fortunate examples. It will report on lasers generating the coldest places in the Universe, and on table top laser microtools which can produce a heat "inferno" as it prevails in the interior of the Sun, or simulate, for specific plant cells, microgravity of the space around our plan et Earth. There will be some real surprises for the reader. The applications range from basic studies of the driving forces of cell division (and thus life) via genetic modification of cells (for example, for plant breeding) to medical applications such as blood cell analysis and finally in vitro fertilization. What are these instruments: laser microbeams and optical tweezers? Both are lasers coupled with a fluorescence microscope. The laser microbeam uses a pulsed ultraviolet laser. Light is focused, as well as possible, in space and time, in order to obtain extremely high light intensities - high enough to generate, for a very short instant, extremely hot spots which can be used to cut, fuse or perforate biological material.

Principles of Cloning, Second Edition is the fully revised edition of the authoritative book on the science of cloning. The book presents the basic biological mechanisms of how cloning works and progresses to discuss current and potential applications in basic biology, agriculture, biotechnology, and medicine. Beginning with the history and theory behind cloning, the book goes on to examine methods of micromanipulation, nuclear transfer, genetic modification, and pregnancy and neonatal care of cloned animals. The cloning of various species—including mice, sheep, cattle, and non-mammals—is considered as well. The Editors have been involved in a number of breakthroughs using cloning technique, including the first demonstration that cloning works in differentiated cells done by the Recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine – Dr John Gurdon; the cloning of the first mammal from a somatic cell – Drs Keith Campbell and Ian Wilmut; the demonstration that cloning can reset the biological clock - Drs Michael West and Robert Lanza; the demonstration that a terminally differentiated cell can give rise to a whole new individual – Dr Rudolf Jaenisch and the cloning of the first transgenic bovine from a differentiated cell – Dr Jose Cibelli. The majority of the contributing authors are the principal investigators on each of the animal species cloned to date and are expertly qualified to present the state-of-the-art information in their respective areas. First and most comprehensive book on animal cloning, 100% revised Describes an in-depth analysis of current limitations of the technology and research areas to explore Offers cloning applications on basic biology, agriculture, biotechnology, and medicine