The early stages of embryological development during IVF may become automated in the future, according to a report in the current issue of New Scientist. The article chronicles work carried out by US researchers David Beebe, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Matthew Wheeler, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who have built 'chips' for IVF in mice.

The chips are designed to mimic the female reproductive tract by providing different culture media at different stages of development. Currently, embryologists working in human IVF move early embryos from one petri dish to another in an attempt to provide nutrients which maximise survival and growth. Beebe and Wheeler's chips, which resemble glass slides, aim to cut out these transfers by allowing embryos to move from one culture media to another by means of tiny channels.

Press reports of the research have found it hard to resist the temptation to compare the chips to the fictional baby production-lines in Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World'. But Beebe observes that far from 'designing babies', the chips simply offer an automated version of tasks that embryologists already perform manually.