Behind the scenes IVF

Behind the scenes IVF Embryologist explaining why your IVF lab’s quality is the real baby-maker! Scientific Director .australia
📍Melbourne, Australia

03/09/2026

Where do I begin…! There is so much that goes on in an IVF lab, and it really does affect the results and growth of embryos.

29/08/2026

These are all top quality (4AA) embryos at the blastocyst stage. However, only two of them are euploid, which means they are genetically normal and may form a future baby. The other two are aneuploid, if transferred, it means it will either not implant or it will try to implant & later cause a miscarriage.

Top quality embryos don’t guarantee a pregnancy. Even the best quality embryos can secretly have chromosomal errors form during its first few days of development.

You may then ask: why bother grading embryos then? High quality embryos have a higher correlation with success rates, and it’s also an important process so embryologists can help you & the doctor decide which embryo to transfer or freeze. However, grading isn’t the whole picture- it’s helpful for setting expectations, but I’ve seen both top quality embryos fail to implant and vice versa, poor quality embryos form cute little babies!

27/08/2026

😂 Just kidding, this has nothing to do with OCD.
S***m actually likes to travel along edges, and in this case, the sides of a drop of media.

How does s***m actually know where to go inside the uterus? 🧬🔬

S***m movement is guided by a combination of fluid flow, chemical signals, temperature gradients and the female reproductive tract. Their tails propel them forward, while the surrounding environment helps create directional cues.

18/08/2026

A follow up reel to my recent one- here are the chances of conceiving within one year of trying. These estimates are from ASRM, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. As with all stats, there will be differences between populations, but the overall trend is the same, fertility declines with age, and this is true for both women AND men.

The message is still the same, if you & your partner have been trying to conceive for over 12 months (under 35 years old) or trying for 6 months (over 35), it’s best to see a doctor to ensure there’s no obvious reasons why it isn’t happening for you & your partner. There are also many other simpler interventions, monitoring, medications or techniques besides IVF to assist you to get pregnant naturally, and your doctor will recommend it according to your personal medical circumstances. Good luck to everybody trying to get pregnant 🥰🤞🏼🍀

18/08/2026

Female fertility begins to decline from age 25 onwards, when monthly chances are at its peak 25-30%. Please note, these are the chances monthly, and it increases significantly when trying to conceive within a year (see my next reel).

When aging, there is a decline in egg quality such as aneuploidy (wrong number of chromosomes) and decreasing egg numbers in the ovaries. At age 35, 20% of women who conceive naturally will miscarry.

It’s important to know that IVF cannot overcome age-related infertility. The younger you are, the higher your chance of success, both naturally and with IVF. Even with IVF, the live delivery rate per fresh cycle is less than 1% in women aged 44 years or older.

Let this be your sign to see the fertility specialist- if you are over 35 and trying for 6 months, or if you are under 35 and trying for 12 months without success. And if you already know you have underlying medical conditions, don’t wait any longer! ⏰

Update: it’s important to note that these are monthly chances, and the odds increases significantly if trying to conceive over the course of a year. I have posted a new reel to show the chances of conceiving over a year.

17/08/2026

On average, only half of all fertilized embryos will continue developing into a suitable blastocyst for transfer or freezing.

There are countless reasons why this may be the case. Most commonly either the egg or s***m had the wrong number of chromosomes (amount of DNA) to begin with, or DNA replication and cell division errors, low embryo metabolism, poor cell quality etc.

While it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact reason, we can take educated guesses. In this case, the egg showed unusual cell divisions from an early stage, before the embryo genome was activated. This is highly likely to be an egg issue, and this patient’s age is over 40 year’s old, and she has a high BMI. These are factors that are commonly associated with poor embryo development, and can explain why IVF outcomes can be disappointing.

16/08/2026

Here’s part 2! Thank you for all the views on the first video, glad most of you found it interesting. Follow for more IVF related content!

Something I do want to point out- even if we do choose a morphologically normal s***m (good looking on the outside), we still won’t know if the DNA is normal on the inside. Testing DNA fragmentation is a lesser known test compared to the routine semen analysis, and may be worth looking into depending on your medical history.

***mquality ***mbanter ***mmorphology

15/08/2026

There are good swimmers, and then there are bad swimmers.

Did you know for a sample to be considered normal, only 4% of s***m needs to be OK? That’s right! Majority of the sample contains bad s***m.

***mmorphology

14/08/2026

So stoked for these patients! 🤩

A diagnosis of severe oligos***mia was unexpected, but with some perseverance, luck and science, we managed to make it happen 🤰🏻

***mia

12/08/2026

Women are born with all the eggs they ever have, and egg reserves decline with age. Some women lose eggs faster than others (10% of women). Low AMH means response to IVF stimulation hormones will be lower, and a lower number of eggs to be collected, which in turn affects the chances of a successful pregnancy. By the time a patient turns 40 and above, the chances of pregnancy significantly declines as majority of the eggs won’t have the right number of chromosomes, which is why more eggs = more chances.

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