Embryology Laboratory

An embryology laboratory is our best attempt to simulate the conditions where life begins in the female reproductive tract.  Our embryology lab was designed from the collective research, knowledge, and experience that our team of experts has gleaned over the last 25+ years. The space is isolated from the outside world with tight seals, and the environment is pressurized, which allows strict control of temperature, humidity, and air purity.

The in vitro fertilization journey begins in a procedure room adjacent to the IVF lab, where eggs (oocytes) are removed from the patient’s ovaries with a thin ultrasound-guided needle while she is sedated. Patients typically go home within 60 minutes of their oocyte retrieval procedure. The harvested eggs are immediately transferred into a working incubator called an isolette. This allows our embryologist to identify the mature eggs under magnification and to prepare them for their introduction to sperm, a process called fertilization. There are essentially two types of fertilization.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the second method of insemination, and it involves directly injecting a single sperm into each mature egg. This procedure was first introduced in the 1990s as a way of compensating for very low sperm counts or sperm with poor motility. Today there are many more indications for ICSI; ICSI inseminates most eggs in 2013. At Atlantic Reproductive, approximately 80% of the eggs that undergo ICSI continue to develop.

Embryo Biospy

At Atlantic Reproductive, all embryos are cultured to the blastocyst stage of development. Our consistently producing high-quality blastocysts allows us to “push” out to Day 5, improving our capacity to select the correct embryo for transfer. It also allows us to use the Select CCS platform for preimplantation genetic screening. Select CCS is a clinically validated method to screen all 24 chromosomes of the embryo using a small piece of the trophectoderm (future placenta).

At Atlantic Reproductive, we believe strongly in combining well-established clinical practices with the newest validated laboratory methods for our patients. Vitrification is a method of cryopreserving your oocytes or embryo development so they can be stored for future use. Vitrification is superior to the more commonly used slow-cooling method because it decreases the chances of cell damage, improving patient outcomes.