Infertility affects millions of couples worldwide, and while assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization (IVF) offer hope, they are often expensive, delicate, and dependent on highly skilled specialists.
Now, a team of Cornell University researchers has developed an innovative device that could simplify one of IVF’s most critical steps, making treatments safer, faster, and potentially more accessible to people around the globe.
The new technology is a small, disposable chip powered by vibrations.
Its purpose is to automate oocyte cumulus removal, or CR—a necessary step in preparing eggs for fertilization.
CR involves gently stripping away cumulus cells, which are protective layers that surround the oocyte, or developing egg cell.
This must be done before an egg can be injected with sperm or used in IVF. Traditionally, embryologists perform CR manually, using a tiny pipette to flush the oocyte repeatedly until the cells come off.
It’s a painstaking process requiring expertise and time, and mistakes can damage eggs, leading to failed fertilization.
“This platform is a potential game-changer,” said Alireza Abbaspourrad, associate professor of food chemistry and ingredient technology at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“It reduces the need for skilled technicians, minimizes contamination risks, and ensures consistent results—all while being portable and cost-effective.”
The chip, described in the journal Lab on a Chip, uses what the researchers call “vibration-induced flow.”
It features a spiral array of micropillars that, when vibrated, create a swirling current. This flow gently sweeps the smaller cumulus cells into a separate chamber, while leaving the larger oocytes safe in the main chamber.
Tests on mouse oocytes, which share genetic similarities with human eggs, showed promising results. The device could process up to 23 eggs at once without harming them. Even freeze-thawed eggs, which are especially fragile, were successfully handled.
Fertilization and embryo development rates were nearly identical to those achieved with manual methods, demonstrating that the chip does not compromise the eggs’ developmental potential. In fact, fertilization rates were slightly higher with the chip than with manual pipetting, and early embryo development rates were comparable.
“This shows our method is fast, efficient, and noninvasive, while preserving embryo development outcomes,” said Amirhossein Favakeh, a doctoral candidate and co-author of the study.
Beyond its benefits for fertility clinics, the chip’s design has broader applications. Its ability to separate particles by size could make it useful for cancer cell isolation or other microfluidic research.
But perhaps its greatest promise lies in democratizing access to fertility treatments. Because the device is inexpensive, portable, and easy to use, it could help bring IVF procedures to regions that lack well-funded labs or highly trained embryologists.
“Ordinarily, clinics invest significant time and money in training staff for these delicate procedures,” Abbaspourrad explained. “With this device, you don’t need a highly trained human to do it. And what’s really important is there’s almost no chance of damaging or losing the egg.”
The team plans to expand their work to include human oocytes and explore the chip’s use in intracytoplasmic sperm injection, another step in which CR is essential. They also hope to refine the design for other types of cell sorting and manipulation.
For now, the Cornell researchers are celebrating a breakthrough that could make fertility treatments faster, safer, and more widely available. “Replacing tedious manual methods with a simple vibration-based chip improves the speed, safety, and consistency of oocyte preparation,” Abbaspourrad said. “This is a small device with a very big impact.”
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