Transparent Embryo Seen For The First Time
Researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing have created a chip that is a soft, transparent eggshell in order to view the development of embryos. Scientists who wanted to see developing eggs relied on adding a window on the eggs. A portion of the shell would be cut out so the inside could be viewed. It is tapped back on in order to protect the embryo. This process is a risk because it allows access for contamination. Also, it is a narrow view of the embryo. This new system allows scientists to view the development without running into any problems.
The shell is made of a biomaterial called PDMS and is transparent and elastic like. It also allows vivo fluorescent imaging, and gives information about genetic function. “With both high optical transparency and engineering subtlety fully integrated together, the present method not only provides an ideal transparent imaging platform for studying functional embryo development including life mystery, but also promises a future strategy for “lab-on-an-egg” technology which may be important in a wide variety of either fundamental or practical areas,” the authors write in the paper.
