A Robotic Surgery Approach to Mitochondrial Transfer Amongst Single Cells Introducing alterations in the mtDNA sequence is challenging but needed for potential therapies and basic studies. Direct microinjection of mitochondria into small cells has been considered inefficient and impractical. To address this issue, we present a highly efficient and precise robotic approach for automatically transferring mitochondria from one single cell to another. A microfluidic cell positioning device is used to pattern two different types of cells in one dimensional array, and an image processing algorithm is applied to identify the location of the mitochondria and cell. A visual feedback control mechanism is developed to enhance the mitochondrial extraction efficiency. A robust adaptive sliding control algorithm is developed to precisely control an XY stage to accomplish the extraction of mitochondria from A type cell followed by injection of the mitochondria into B type cell automatically. The system can transfer mitochondria from one cell to another with an average duration of 15 smitochondria. Experiments of mitochondrial transfer from THPI and NB4 cells to THPI cells and fibroblasts are conducted to show the effectiveness of the developed approach.

Automated MacroMicro Manipulation for Robotic Microinjection with Computer Vision Extensive research efforts have been made toward automating the microinjection of biological cells by leveraging microrobotic technologies. However, to best knowledge of the authors, there is no report on the automation of the timeconsuming process: moving the injection tools (a micropipette, a grippers, etc.) and cells into the field of view (FOV) of microscope from the macro FOV(outside the microscopic FOV). This paper presents a novel macromicro conversion strategy, and a grid detection and positioning algorithm to automate the timeconsuming step of moving the injection tools and cells to the microscopic FOV. The proposed solution can free the technician from the laborious handeye coordination operations for moving the injection tools and cells to the target position within the microscopic FOV. Furthermore, this paper proposes an autofocusing algorithm to automate the operation step: moving down the gripper from the air outside the culture media and then precisely clamping a cell in the liquid environment for injection. In the proposed solution, the active windowbased autofocusing algorithm is developed to solve the challenging problem: the image information is lost due to the xe2x80x9cviscous effectxe2x80x9d taking place when the gripper jaw touches the water surface. The proposed solutions are tested and validated by the microinjection experiments of zebrafish embryos using the inhouse develop microrobotic system. The technologies and strategies proposed in this paper significantly improve the automation level of the cell microinjections, and can be easily extended to any other micromanipulation of biological cells.