Automated conception, using a production line version of IVF treatment, is being developed in Japan. Scientists are working on a miniature ‘womb-on-a-chip’ which can churn out early-stage embryos after being fed with sperm and eggs. Once manufactured, the pinhead-sized embryos could then be implanted into a woman’s womb, or frozen. advertisement The researchers, from the University of Tokyo, hope the device will boost the success rate of in-vitro fertilisation. Conventional IVF involves moving or washing eggs or embryos with culture fluid, causing changes in temperature and acidity. This can lead to problems, resulting in failed treatment cycles. To improve the process Dr Teruo Fujii’s team in Tokyo has produced a ‘lab-on-a chip’ just two millimetres across in which up to 20 eggs can be fertilised at a time. Within the device, which acts like an automated artificial womb, embryos are grown until they are ready for implantation. Endometrial cells, which line real wombs, are also grown in the womb chip so that the chemicals they produce can nourish the embryos. ‘We are providing the embryos with a much more comfortable environment, mimicking what happens in the body,’ Dr Fujii told New Scientist […]