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Sujatha Ramakrishnan: Can We Make Embryo Biopsy Safer and Less Invasive?

Sujatha Ramakrishnan/LinkedIn

Nov 1, 2026, 09:56

Sujatha Ramakrishnan: Can We Make Embryo Biopsy Safer and Less Invasive?

Sujatha Ramakrishnan, President of the Academy of Clinical Embryologists, India, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Anick De Vos and Neelke De Munck published in Genes:

“Can we make embryo biopsy safer and less invasive?

Embryo biopsy is the most invasive micromanipulation we perform on a developing embryo. What matters is not just getting a sample. It is the integrity of the biopsied cells and the integrity of the embryo afterwards. Lasers add thermal risk too.

A recent review by De Vos and De Munck (2025) is worth reading in full. It covers the practical details of trophectoderm biopsy, and it describes a pipette with an angled tip (left) that separates cells by mechanical flicking, with no extra laser pulses.

I have also evaluated a patent-pending gripper (right) that stabilises blastocysts, including zona-free ones. In my hands, and for a couple of other embryologists who tried it, flicking felt much easier, more controlled, and less traumatic for the embryo. Less laser. Better stabilisation. Less mechanical trauma.

A successful biopsy is not about removing a few cells. It is about a reliable result without compromising the integrity of the biopsied cells or the biopsied embryo.

Better training, validated techniques and innovation must go hand in hand for safer IVF.

Disclosure: I am a consultant for SpOvum Technologies Private Limited, developing the gripper.”