Fleur van Rossem

Project

Microfluidics for ART

In this project, an integrated microfluidic platform is developed for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). In spite of their extensive and increasing use, ART suffer from a number of weaknesses leading to high failure in embryo development. This failure is mainly attributed to existing in vitro culture protocols. These are limited in terms of variable culture parameters e.g., the medium composition; they rely on static culture; and imply extensive embryo manipulation. For such purposes, Lab-on-a Chip devices (LOC) provide integrated protocols with including dynamic culture conditions, limited embryo manipulation and an in vivo-like environment due to microfluidic confinement. On the integrated microfluidic platform, embryos are cultured during their pre-implantation development and can be characterized in real-time. This platform can find two main applications for embryo studies. By providing feedback in real-time on the embryo development, such a system is of great interest for optimization of the ART protocol. Secondly, such a tool can be applied in clinical settings (IVF clinics and centres) for embryo culture and characterization in the frame of an ART procedure.

Educational Activities

Assignments

Students interested in an assignment can always ask for more information.

Biography

Fleur van Rossem was born in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands, in 1985. She received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Twente, the Netherlands, in October 2009. During her studies she worked as student-assistant for numerous courses and for four months as a trainee at NXP semiconductors, on the development of a bench top semiconductor characterization system based measurement solution for direct on-wafer mismatch characterization of pairs of pF range backend capacitors. Since November 2009, she has been working as a Ph.D. student at the same university at the BIOS the lab-on-a-chip group headed by Albert van den Berg.

Publications

Conference papers

[1] H. Tuinhout, F. van Rossem, “High precision on-wafer backend capacitor mismatch measurements using a benchtop semiconductor characterization system.”, ICMTS 2009. link

[2] F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, S. Le Gac, and A. van den Berg, “Development of integrated microfluidic chips for single embryo physiology studies”, Micro- and nanofluidics for cell biology, 18-22 january 2010, Leiden, The Netherlands. (poster) Best poster award.

[3] F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, A. van den Berg, and S. Le Gac, “Development of integrated chips for single embryo physiology studies” Nanobio Europe 2010 Muenster 15-17 June 2010. (oral presentation)

[4] S. Le Gac, F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, A. van den Berg, and, “Development of integrated chips for single embryo physiology studies”, ESHRE 2010 Rome 20-27 June 2010. (poster)

[5] F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, S. Le Gac, and A. van den Berg, “Microfluidic systems for improving assisted reproductive technologies culture protocols”, MicroTAS 2010 Groningen. (poster)

[6] F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, S. Le Gac, and A. van den Berg, “Microfluidic systems for improving assisted reproductive technologies culture protocols”, NanoBioTech-Montreux 2010. (poster) Best poster award.

[7] S. Le Gac, F.van Rossem, T.C. Esteves, M.Boiani, A. van den Berg, “Development of integrated microfluidic chips for single embryo physiology studies”, ESHRE 2011 Stockholm, 3-6 July 2011. (poster)

[8] T.C. Esteves, F.van Rossem, M.Boiani, A. van den Berg, S. Le Gac, “Microfluidic protocol for pre-implantation culture of single mammalian embryos: towards an optimal culture protocol”, MicroTAS 2011 Seattle (WA, USA). (poster)

[8] T.C. Esteves, F.van Rossem, M.Boiani, A. van den Berg, S. Le Gac, “Microfluidic Platform for the Pre-Implantation Culture of Mammalian Embryos Down to the Single Embryo Level”, NanoBioTech-Montreux 2011. (oral presentation)