07/25/2025
🧫🔬This , Jenn, one of our outstanding embryologists on our Melville team, shares some insight as to what goes on BTS in the lab:
Embryologists typically come in to work in plain clothes and change into their scrubs first thing in the morning, around 7:00am. The day begins with a lot of quality control checks. It’s not very glamorous, but every single machine and tool must be carefully checked for functionality within normal operating range before it is used on human tissue.
Once we are sure everything is working properly, we can begin the first checks. We check for fertilization on yesterday’s inseminations, we check today’s Day 5, 6, and 7 embryos to see if any developed into blastocysts. We thaw the embryos in the morning that will be transferred that afternoon, we process s***m and retrieve oocytes for today’s inseminations. We biopsy embryos all day long, as many as necessary.
The afternoons are full of embryo transfers, vitrification of the embryos that are ready, inseminations, and a lot of preparation for tomorrow’s cases including making culture dishes and of course, everyone’s favorite… paperwork and data entry. At the end of the day we have to perform a very thorough check of every procedure and task to ensure we have not forgotten anything. Embryos do not wait for us, they grow at their own pace, and clean rooms require a lot of attention in order to keep the space prepared and ready for tissue. Our day typically ends at 5:00pm, however, we do not leave when our shift is over, we leave when the work is completed, which is not always predictable. It is a hard job, but a rewarding one.
By the time we lock the lab doors for the night, we are tired, but incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be there at the very beginnings of so many human lives.
