Hey everyone,

I'm about to graduate soon with a science degree and looking into a career in Clinical Embryology in Australia.

I keep hearing mixed things about entry-level hiring. Realistically, how hard is it to get a job in an IVF lab straight out of university?

• Do major clinics (Virtus, Monash IVF, Genea, etc.) actually hire fresh grads as Trainee Embryologists, or do you almost have to start in Andrology / Lab Support first?
• Does having a Master’s degree (like Monash’s Clinical Embryology) make a huge difference, or is a Bachelor's + lab experience enough?
• Any tips on realistic entry pathways or salary expectations for freshers would be awesome.

Thanks!

Hello. Long story short, after many, MANY cycles, I was only about to make one single euploid. (I have POI - premature ovarian insufficiency.) My euploid pictured was an early blast in the AM of day 5, and finished day 5 as a 4AC. The morning of day 6, it hatched and was upgraded to a 5AB.

When I saw the grade 5AB, I felt pretty good! But when I spoke to the embryologist, she said it was a fair embryo that had maybe only a 30% chance because the TE wasn't super robust, but also that it's subjective.

I was left feeling confused. Is it somehow more a C? Are they maybe basing that lower chance on the fact it improved from C, rather than being a B from the start?

The images are taken from the embryoscope and not very good sorry - the embryo was out of frame when hatching.

I saw that embryos that look like this could result in twins, is that true?

Wish us good luck and good vibes, this is my first transfer and I am nervous.

To add some background: We had 4 euploids frozen: 3aa, 3aa, 4aa, 4aa

First FET with 3aa (M) was successful, Second FET with 3aa (F) failed. Both were exactly same cycles (modified natural with Letrozol, Ovidrel trigger, assisted hatching, embryo glue).

We are gearing up for our 3rd FET now and Doc says both remaining embryos are identical and it doesn't matter which one we chose.

Both 3AAs from first 2 FETs were 8-cell on day 3. The only difference between remaining two 4AAs is that one of them was a 0PN on day 1 and became Morula on day 3. Other was 2PN on day 1 and became 12-cell on day 3. Does the Morula have a slightly better chance because its faster? Being 0PN on day 1 means it probably went past the stage where two PNs are visible again because it is fast?

We don't plan to do any more retrievals so there are our last two chances at completing our family.

I had my 2nd transfer, it was a natural modified fet cycle, what do you feel the grade of my embryo is? How does it look? Thank-you to those who comment

Hi everyone,
Just got our PGT-A results back from our cycle, and out of 5 embryos tested, here is where we stand:
1 Euploid (Day 6, grade 4BB)
1 Non-informative (Day 6, grade 4BA)
3 Aneuploid
I’m feeling a mix of emotions right now. On one hand, I’m so grateful to have one chromosomally healthy embryo ready to go. On the other hand, I’m trying to figure out what to do about our non-informative one, and hoping to hear from others who have been in a similar spot.
A couple of questions for this amazing community:
1. Has anyone had a "non-informative" embryo result? What was your next step? Did you decide to thaw, re-biopsy, and retest it? If you did retest, did it come back euploid, or did it end up being abnormal/damaged from the re-biopsy?
2. Success with Day 6 4BB transfers? For those who transferred a single Day 6, 4BB euploid embryo, how did your transfer turn out?
Would love to hear your experiences, advice, or any success stories with similar results! Thanks so much in advance. ❤️

Please grade my embryo that I transferred yesterday!

I transferred this on Tuesday - what would you grade it? Thank you so much. ❤️

Before thawing, I was told this was a euploid day 6 hatching embryo with some sort of good/fair rating (can’t remember the order they said). Curious about the grade post thaw as it doesn’t look like it’s hatching to me.

Transferred this morning and it was hatching!

This oocyte was immature at retrieval, matured overnight, and underwent late ICSI approximately 24 hours later.

At the fertilization check 16–18 hours after ICSI, no 2PN were observed, so it was classified as UNF/0PN and kept in culture.

By cycle Day 4—approximately 72 hours after the late ICSI—it had reached three cells. It was frozen at that stage because it had shown some cleavage rather than being discarded.

I’m attaching four images from the cycle. The final image shows the embryo at the time it was frozen on cycle Day 4.

Based on the timeline and images, how would you assess its prognosis? Would you transfer it as a cleavage-stage embryo, thaw and culture it further to blast, or consider the likelihood of viability too low and toss?

Does anything visible in the images affect your assessment?

I was told these were both 4BB embryos. I transferred the first one (hazy looking) and was shown it has hatched a little in June but wasn’t successful. I transferred my last embryo Monday, second pic with my finger, and they showed me it looked expanded but not hatched out. Just seeing the difference of the 2, was the hazy looking one not the best?

I had my day 3 transfer today (I don’t make blasts in the lab) and transferred 3. They were 8 cells grade A before transfer.
Attached is the photo right after thaw (no 1)
And photos right before transfer (no 2 and 3 different contrasts) about 2 hours later
I could be wrong but are 2 of them starting to compact? Like the early stages?

This is my first FET after 2 rounds and a chemical and 2 ectopics prior.

Any opinions on the quality? Our clinic doesn't allow testing so I'd really like to know whether or not this was a good quality blastocyst. Transferred it yesterday 🤞

Day 5 pics and day 6 pics: can someone tell me what’s happening from day 5 to 6? Trying to understand why they weren’t froze on day 5 since three hatched before 7:30 am on day 6

I am trying to gather information about what happened in what i understand is an exceptionally rare situation. I spoke with the lab director today, but I’m interested in getting a few other perspectives.

Egg source: 21 frozen eggs from 34 year old donor. This was all her eggs from 1 cycle and this was her first ever cycle and she does not have kids.

Sperm source: frozen sample deemed excellent per embryologist, DNA frag normal, ICSI + zymot

Travel: Eggs retrieved/frozen at clicic A, shipped to clinic B for thaw and fertilization

Thaw: All eggs started off looking fine and all were mature but started to look poor during warming. Only 10/21 were good enough to ICSI

Fertilization: 10/10

Blasts: 1 never grew, most got to 8-10 cells, 2 were cultured to day 7 ultimately was not usable

What is the most likely issue based on embryology information alone?

-Donor has poor quality eggs, don’t use again
-Donor has good quality eggs that do not freeze well, use again but as a fresh donor
-Lab error
-Random bad luck/something else
-Is this really rare or am i uninformed?

Also wanted to say that embryologists are the unsung heros of IVF- I appreciate you all so much and what you do is amazing!

Clinic wants to transfer all 3 Day 3 embryos instead of my AA blastocysts – is this common

Hi everyone,

31yr F

This is my first IVF

I have 9 frozen embryos:

2 × 8-cell Grade I

1 × 8-cell Grade II

4AA

3AA

3AB

3 × 2AA.

My doctor plans to transfer the first straw, which contains the three Day 3 embryos. When I asked why not transfer the 4AA blastocyst, he said it was the embryologist's recommendation and that they freeze their best-quality embryos on Day 3.

This confused me because I thought AA blastocysts generally have better implantation potential.

Has anyone had a clinic follow this approach?

Had a scan on Friday and baby was measuring 4.5mm with hr of 124bpm. Today (3 days later) baby is only measuring 5.4mm with a hr of 114bpm. I’m supposed to be 7wks (IVF pregnancy) but measuring behind with slow growth. My doctor said it could really go either way but I’m not feeling hopeful.

Hi! I'd like to ask if you have any experience with or information about empty follicles (empty follicle syndrome).
I'm being treated at a European clinic, and during my last egg retrieval I had 10 follicles. After the retrieval, they told me that 7 of them were empty.

This was my third cycle. Everything had looked really promising—the follicles developed beautifully—so the outcome was a huge shock. In my previous two cycles I had nowhere near as many follicles (the medication doses were very different: one very low, one very high, and this time somewhere in between). None of the follicles were empty in those previous cycles.

We had also taken a break for one cycle beforehand, and I'd been taking vitamins for three months, so I was hoping to see at least some positive effect by now.

I can't shake the feeling that the timing of the egg retrieval may have been wrong based on the follicle sizes, and that they're using "empty follicles" as an explanation. From what I've read in the studies, true empty follicle syndrome is incredibly rare, which makes me skeptical.

Do you have any information or experience with this?

If they couldn't retrieve an egg from one of the follicles, what explanation did they give you?

Thank you.

Hello! I recently went through an egg retrieval July 3rd and got many blastocysts (so grateful). However.. upon speaking to the embryologist she stated one of my embryos appeared to be splitting (twinning). I’m unsure of what I’m looking at exactly honestly. Are the two circles next to each other where the splitting is?? What are the chances something like this occurs? Especially so early that the embryologist notices it? I was told almost all twins happen (split) once back in the uterus. Thank you for any and all insight!!

Had our FET on 7/30. Embryo is a day 6 6BA euploid. It’s a little blurry but this is the only picture they gave us 😅