Emerging Bioengineering Technologies in Female Reproduction: Preclinical Advances, Translational Challenges, and Future Outlook

Abstract

Female infertility, which affects millions of couples globally, has been a highly focused research field owing to the importance of reproduction in humans. Emerging bioengineering technologies, including tissue engineering, microfluidic chips, imaging techniques, personalized medicine, gene editing tools, and artificial intelligence, have the potential to revolutionize the existing assisted reproductive technology. These technologies have enabled creating artificial biomimetic systems for the culture of oocytes and embryos; changed the way they develop; and enhanced their competence evaluation in an automatic manner. However, the implementation and potential integration of these technologies have been a long-entrenched challenge due to the lack of standardized protocols and precise control over reproductive cycles. This review article summarizes recent advances in these innovative approaches, with an emphasis on tissue engineering and microfluidic technology. Their convergence is discussed as a potential pathway toward more integrated, precise, and personalized reproductive systems for next-generation assisted reproductive technology. In this context, key challenges related to ethics, standardization, cross-technology integration, and clinical translation are further discussed.