Biopsy of embryonic trophectoderm cells using infrared femtosecond laser pulses

Millisecond laser sources are now widely used in assisted reproductive technologies for the trophectoderm cell biopsy procedure at the blastocyst stage. We have investigated the effectiveness of application for this purpose of infrared femtosecond laser pulses (280 fs duration and 1028 nm radiation wavelength). The biopsy was performed using standard microsurgical assist devices – holding pipettes. Pulses with an intensity of 10 to 65 TW/cm² were shown to be able to extract cells from bioptates of different thickness.