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The heart of the IVF clinic is the
IVF laboratory, because this is where the embryos are actually made. The
IVF lab is often "off-limits" to patients in most IVF centers, which is
why most patients don't have a clue what goes on in the IVF lab.
Here's a guided tour of our IVF
lab, to familiarise you with what happens to your eggs and embryos, and
how the IVF lab helps you to make a baby.
1. This is the soul of
the IVF lab - the CO2 incubator, where fertilisation occurs, and your
embryos are carefully grown under controlled conditions, which mimic
your body's environment.
2. This is the IVF culture medium, in which embryos
are cultured and nourished. Most IVF clinics use ready-made medium,
which is quality controlled and extensively tested. We import ours from
Vitrolife, one of the world's best companies.
3. Microscopes are the work-horse of the IVF lab,
and allow the embryologist to inspect your eggs and embryos. The
circular plastic dish on the heated platform of the microscope is a
petri dish; and the central well contains the culture medium in which
the embryos are grown .You can see what embryos look like under the
microscope here.
4. This is the micromanipulator, where
ICSI is
performed. It is also used to perform the embryo biopsy when doing
PGD.
It allows us to visualise the eggs , sperm and embryos because of the
high degree of magnification it offers; and also allows us to precisely
manipulate the fine pipettes which are used to perform surgery on the
egg and embryo !
5. This is the computer-controlled embryo
cryopreservation unit , which allows us to freeze and store embryos.
6. These are liquid nitrogen containers, in which
sperm and embryos are frozen and preserved at -196 C.
If you'd like to take a peek at what the
embryologist sees in the IVF lab when he is working,
you can do so here. |
