Laser mediated sectioning and transfer of cell colonies

A method of sectioning a stem cell colony, comprising:

• providing a cell culture comprising at least one living stem cell colony on a culture surface;
• imaging the surface;
• selecting a stem cell colony for sectioning that exhibits an undifferentiated phenotype for the stem cell colony, which phenotype is shown in the image;
• identifying at least a portion of the edge of the stem cell colony in the image;
• applying electromagnetic radiation to the identified edge of the stem cell colony to separate the colony from rest of the culture;
• and
• defining a grid pattern of cutting lines which grid pattern defines a plurality of sub colonies of generally uniform size from the selected stem cell colony;
• and
• applying electromagnetic energy in the grid pattern of the cutting lines at the culture surface so as to section the living stem cell colony into the plurality of sub colonies of generally uniform size,
• wherein the applying electromagnetic radiation in the grid pattern comprises one or more of:
• the use of a series of laser pulses which may be emitted using a range of laser energies from about 1 to about 50 μJ per pulse;
• the use of a series of laser pulses which may be emitted using a range of laser spot radii from about 1 to about 20 μm;
• and the use of a series of 532 nm laser pulses which may be emitted using 1 to 5 laser pulses.