Fig. 1

S-biopsy method. With the S-biopsy method, a minimal amount of the zona pellucida is removed (1460 nm, 300 mW for 500 μs) while in the conventional method, a majority of the zona pellucida is removed to expose the blastomere, so that the aspiration pipette can achieve maximal coverage (a). The shape of the opening is funneled, minimizing zona pellucida blastomere retention (b). The removed zona pellucida region is significantly shorter for the S-Biopsy Method than the conventional method. An appropriate size Stripper-Micropipetter is used to the complete embryo (b), leading to the release of the blastomere from the embryo (c)