11/6/2011
We all started off as embryos in our mothers' wombs. But, for the young ones of hundreds of sub-fertile couples taking the ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) route to parenthood, life begins in a petri dish, under the watchful eyes of an embryologist. The embryologist carefully handles the sperms and eggs from the time of collection, and thereafter either sets the stage for a swayamvara of sorts by mixing the sperms and eggs together — in vitro fertilisation (IVF), or facilitates an arranged match through intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or Intra cytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI), and incubates them in the lab for fertilisation.
Says Sasikala Natrajamani, scientific director and chief embryologist, Crea Conceptions — Centre for Assisted Reproduction, Chennai: “Embryology looks at the very beginning of life from the one-celled organism — egg or sperm. Embryologists examine fertilisation and track the development of the embryo until it bears a resemblance to its progenitors.”
A long process
Putting the role of the embryologist into context, N. Pandiyan, chief consultant in Andrology and Reproductive Medicine and head of the department of Reproductive Medicine, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chennai, points out: “IVF is team work, and the success of the IVF programme depends on the infertility specialist who recruits the patient, plans proper stimulation protocol, does proper egg collection and effects appropriate placement of the embryos in the mother's womb. The embryologist who brings the egg and sperm together creates an embryo and assists in embryo transfer. The nursing staff provides the crucial support to the clinician and the embryologist. One cannot forget the pharmaceutical, labware and culture media companies that provide quality material. IVF is like an orchestra — the clinician infertility specialist normally conducts the orchestra, but he is ineffective without the accompanists.”
Says Rajvi Mehta, science director, Trivector Embryology Support Academy, Mumbai: “Embryologists are at the core and heart of all IVF procedures. They set up and maintain the culture laboratory, do the processing of the gametes (eggs and sperms), grow the embryos in the laboratory, and prepare them to be transferred into the uterus.”