The first of the babies conceived with the help of a robot capable of injecting sperm into eggs during the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) were born, reported this week on the MIT Technology Review portal.
The system was developed by engineers in Barcelona and sent to a clinic in New York to be used in the fertilization process. A technician with no greater experience in fertility medicine used a PlayStation 5 controller, a microscope, a Petri dish and a laptop computer to position a mechanized needle, penetrate an egg and inject a sperm.
The experiments at the New York clinic managed to generate healthy embryos, which ended up being the offspring of the girls.
The researchers of the ‘startup’ Overture Life, which is behind the development of this technology, assure that the automation of IVF will help simplify and reduce the cost of assisted reproduction procedures, which in the USA. can cost 20,000 dollars.
Overture Life has filed a request to patent a miniature IVF laboratory biochip. According to the company, this autonomous fertility system could be used by any common gynecologist.
The company has already obtained 37 million dollars from investors.
