Embryology in the 21st Century: Breakthroughs and Innovations

Part 1

Michael B. Yakass, Ph.D.

Introduction:

Embryology, the study of the development of embryos from fertilization to birth, has undergone remarkable advancements in the 21st century. These breakthroughs have not only expanded our understanding of embryonic development but also revolutionized fields such as medicine, biotechnology, and reproductive science. From the early days of self-preparation of embryo culture media using simple basic salts and protein sources, the field of embryology has seen significant advancement in the relatively short time frame since Louise Brown was born to now using artificial intelligence to select the most viable embryo likely to implant and cause a healthy live birth. 

In this series of 6 articles, we will take a daily look at some of the most recent advancements and innovations (in no particular order) in this rapidly growing field of medicine.

Time lapse imaging

In the typical IVF embryology laboratory, embryologists will need to physically examine the developing embryos under a stereo-zoom microscope to monitor the growth of these embryos. Currently, with the innovation of time lapse monitoring technology, embryologists no longer need to do this. At preset intervals of between every 5 to 20 minutes, stunning photographs could be made of developing embryos while they are still kept in incubation without moving them out of the incubator. Of course, there is a lot of data to prove that, even a minute of moving embryo culture dishes from the incubator to the working stage and back into incubator disturbs the culture conditions of temperature and CO₂ microenvironment which are required for optimum embryo development (Korakaki et al., 2020). There are about four (4) different models of time lapse imaging devices currently in use in clinics across the globe, namely, embryoscope, EEVA, Geri and PrimoVision. They each have their requirements and advantages, however, the most widely used is the embryoscope. The continuous images which are made by the embryoscope can be put together to make a nice video of embryo development which can assist embryologists to choose the most viable embryo to cause a pregnancy. What makes time lapse imaging even more powerful nowadays, is the use of artificial intelligence algorithms that are built into the embryoscope to specifically study the hundreds of photos made of individual embryos to generate a morphokinetic model that is able to predict the most viable embryo with a high likelihood of implantation (Barnes et al., 2023). At the time of publication, there is no centre in Ghana that is using time lapse monitoring of embryos but with the rapid pace of development, it’s only a matter of time before this technology becomes available in Ghanaian clinics.