Embryologist's Job in Assisted Reproductive Technologies and in Vitro Fertilization

Abstract

What exactly does an embryologist do? is one of the most common question asked by patients and the possible answer could be that embryologist is the child’s first watchperson. The ability to grow embryos in laboratory environment was a huge scientific achievement. Scientists and Embryologists are involved in reproductive research and fertility treatment. The embryologist has a huge role to play in IVF/ICSI process and the contribution of embryologist is no less than infertility consultant. They might not be doctors, but they are highly trained medical professionals, holding a master’s degree or Ph.D. due to specialized nature of work. They are responsible for management and maintenance of laboratory used in creating embryos as well as monitoring those embryos. The important activities that embryologist does are maintaining the embryology lab (temperature, humidity, CO2 cylinder, diffusion gas and pH), oocyte screening during ovum pickup (OPU), incubation and checking of fertilization, embryo transfer, vitrification and embryo biopsy for pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).