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Professor Yu Sun of the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering has received a Connaught Innovation Award for his work on a minimally invasive, automated system for blastocyst biopsy.

During in vitro fertilization treatment, cells often need to be removed for genetic testing when the embryo has reached the blastocyst stage – a biopsy that helps mitigate the risk of genetic diseases and determine a viable embryo for implantation.

Sun’s automated system is expected to improve the blastocyst survival rate as well as the accuracy of genetic testing, compared to manual operation by skilled embryologists – and holds the potential to standardize the rapidly growing practice of blastocyst biopsy in more than 3,500 IVF clinics/hospitals worldwide.

The Connaught support will allow the team to develop the system to “its transformative potential,” said Sun, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Micro and Nano Engineering Systems. “The new technology will reduce the invasiveness to biopsied blastocysts and ensure the integrity of the collected cells.”