Integrated holographic system for all-optical manipulation of developing embryos.

We demonstrate a system for the combined optical injection and trapping of developing embryos. A Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser in tandem with a spatial light modulator, is used to perform fast and accurate beam-steering and multiplexing. We show successful intracellular delivery of a range of impermeable molecules into individual blastomeres of the annelid Pomatoceros lamarckii embryo by optoinjection, even when the embryo is still enclosed in a chorion.