Enucleation of Oocyte by On-chip robot driven by magnet with gripping mechanism

We developed a highly-functional untethered on-chip robot for cell handling and micro-knife made by Si to cut zona pellucida of oocyte. The on-chip robot has a gripping mechanism which can grasp a cell or micro-object with sufficient power. The position and handling force of the robot are controlled independently by the magnetic force. The permanent magnets and electrical magnet are assembled together, and they are put under the microfluidic chip. The micro-knife had made by grayscale lithography technique. We demonstrated a cutting of zona pellucida and pushing out a part of cytoplasm of bovine oocyte.