| In Engender’s technology, this separation is achieved by moving livestock sperm from one flow stream in a microfluidic chip into another using a pulse of light. The force required to move the sperm is small, and therefore the interaction between the pulse of light and the sperm cell is very gentle. To increase the final fraction of X-bearing or Y-bearing sperm with minimal sacrifice in total healthy cell count, multiple sorting steps can be easily deployed on a single chip. Importantly, the reduction in shear stress and the absence of an electric field as the sorting method are what makes Engender’s technology less detrimental to the health of the sperm, in comparison to the only currently available technology. Image: Engender. |
