IVF lab education for patients

What Happens to Your Eggs, Sperm & Embryos

inside the IVF lab

I have spent over 20 years as an embryologist, including 15 years at Stanford. I explain what happens behind the IVF lab doors so the numbers and information your IVF clinic gives you make more sense.

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20+ Years in IVF Labs 15 Years at Stanford Double Board Certified: Embryology & Andrology Published Researcher
Vik Reddy working at the bench in an IVF laboratory
Vik Reddy · Senior Embryologist

For years, my work sat behind many of those updates and the IVF lab notes that helped shape what patients were later told. What I noticed was not a lack of care. It was a missing layer of IVF lab context.

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Understanding Your First IVF Lab Report

Follow the IVF lab process from egg retrieval through fertilization, Day 3 development and blastocyst grading. This plain-language guide also explains genetic testing, freezing, ICSI and semen analysis, what the results can and cannot tell you, why clinics may report differently and what to ask your care team.

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Not medical advice: this guide is educational and does not create a relationship between you and a clinician.

01 · The problem

There is a room in your fertility clinic you will probably never see

It is the IVF lab.

01After retrievalYour eggs arrive in the IVF lab
02Sperm preparationThe sample is assessed and prepared
03FertilizationFertilization happens and is checked
04Embryo cultureEmbryos may remain in culture for up to seven days

Many of the updates patients wait for begin in the IVF lab, even though most patients never see it.

Your doctorguides the treatment plan
Your nursehelps with the timeline, medications and next steps
The IVF labrecords fertilization checks, embryo grading, culture, biopsy, freezing, warming and day-by-day changes
An IVF lab update may need more explanation than a number or grade can provide.

Several days of IVF lab work may reach you as a short phone call or portal message with a few numbers. That update may not explain what happened between one number and the next.

What Gets Lost Between the IVF Lab and the Update

The clinic updateA phone call or portal message may give you one number, grade or short summary.

The IVF lab recordBehind it are observations made across several hours or days.

The missing linkWithout the steps between those observations, it is difficult to know how one update connects with the next.

Embryo Care Insights shows how the observations recorded in the IVF lab connect to the update you receive.

More Context for Your IVF Lab Updates

01

Why the numbers may change between updates

02

What usually happens at that stage in the IVF lab

03

Questions your own care team can answer

02 · What patients experience

IVF Lab Updates That May Need More Explanation

What you may hear

A patient hears “only three fertilized” and assumes something went wrong.

Not every egg is expected to fertilize. The number of mature eggs and the fertilization method are part of the context.

What the number cannot show

A patient reads about embryo grading online and is left trying to interpret a number without enough context.

When I grade an embryo, I am recording what I can see at that moment. The grade cannot tell you, by itself, what will happen after transfer.

The IVF lab context

Someone freezes eggs and later hears that not all of them survived the thaw, but no one clearly explains why.

Not all eggs respond to freezing and warming in the same way. Ask how many were warmed, how many survived and whether the IVF lab observed anything unusual.

03 · Who this channel is for

If any of this sounds like you

Freezing your eggs?

You want to understand what happens after retrieval, and what “survival rate” actually means.

Freezing your sperm?

You got a report with numbers and percentages. You want to know what any of it means for your fertility.

Going through IVF?

The daily updates feel like a foreign language. You want to know what the numbers mean.

Preserving fertility for later?

Whether for medical or personal reasons, you want to understand egg or sperm freezing and what happens in the IVF lab.

Had a difficult cycle?

You are trying to understand what happened in the IVF lab and what the update can and cannot tell you.

Considering genetic testing?

You were offered PGT and want to know what a biopsy involves and what the result can and cannot tell you.

Before your next appointment

If part of an IVF lab update is still unclear, I explain what the number, grade or procedure refers to so the next conversation with your care team is easier to follow.

A note on what this channel is not: Embryo Care Insights is not a fertility clinic and provides general IVF lab education. It does not provide medical advice, interpret an individual cycle, replace your own care team or guarantee outcomes. Some IVF answers remain uncertain. I would rather explain that uncertainty honestly than make one grade, percentage or IVF lab update carry more meaning than it can.
04 · The story behind the channel

Why a senior embryologist created Embryo Care Insights

For 15 years at Stanford University Medical Center, I worked inside the IVF lab. Patients rarely see what happens there, which is why it can feel like a black box.

Among many other responsibilities in the IVF lab, I performed ICSI and biopsy, managed embryo cultures, ran vitrification protocols, processed testicular and ovarian tissue biopsies for freezing, and trained the next generation of embryologists.

I helped the IVF lab earn its College of American Pathologists accreditation.

The reason I started making videos

The gap I kept seeing was between everything that happens in the IVF lab and the brief update a patient often receives afterward.

Days of work and observation may arrive as a few numbers, an embryo grade or a short phone call, without the IVF lab context behind it.

That gap is why I created Embryo Care Insights.

I make these videos to explain common IVF lab terms, show how one update connects with the next, and clarify what the information does not answer.

Vik Reddy working in the IVF lab at Stanford
20+ Years experience
15 Years at Stanford
3 Master's degrees
ABB Double Board Certified: Embryology & Andrology
Past President, Northern California Association of Reproductive Biologists
05 · Teaching Experience

I Taught Embryologists, Physicians in Training & Medical Students

I taught embryologists at different stages of their careers, doctors completing specialty training and medical students. The questions they asked showed me which parts of IVF lab work needed a clearer explanation. I use that teaching experience in Embryo Care Insights to explain the biology accurately and define the terms patients are expected to understand.

Guest Lecturer at Stanford

Reproductive technology course, teaching the IVF laboratory side of assisted reproductive technology.

Embryologist Training & Mentoring

I trained and mentored embryologists in IVF lab procedures, quality control and daily IVF lab work.

REI Fellows, Residents & Medical Students

I taught REI fellows, residents and medical students about IVF lab procedures and how those procedures connect with clinical care.

06 · My Other Training

My Training Beyond Embryology

Bioethics & Religious Studies

Beyond the sciences

My training was not only in the sciences. I also hold postgraduate degrees in Bioethics and Religious Studies, which is unusual for someone in my field.

How care is explained

Bioethics is the academic discipline that sits behind the hardest conversations in medicine. It taught me how much depends on what is said to a patient, and how it is said.

When outcomes remain uncertain

My Religious Studies background, including Buddhist thought, changed how I think about patient education. It taught me that effort and outcome are not the same thing, and that facts alone are not enough when people are living through uncertainty.

Clinical Informatics

MMCi

I earned my Master of Management in Clinical Informatics from Duke University, where I received the MMCi Scholar Award.

Clinical Informatics is the discipline behind how health information is structured so people can actually understand it.

How that shapes Embryo Care InsightsEmbryo Care Insights content is built using Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) principles as outlined by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).
07 · My promise to you

What you can expect from every video

The terms and numbers in an IVF lab update
Grades, percentages and procedure names are explained in the context of the IVF lab work they describe.
Uncertainty stated clearly
When the evidence is limited or IVF labs may approach something differently, I will say so.
The IVF lab work behind the update
I explain what embryologists are checking or doing at that stage of the process.
Questions to ask your care team
Specific questions you can bring to the people who know your own cycle.
Content that respects your intelligence
The biology stays accurate and the terms are explained.
08 · What makes this channel different

Four commitments guide how I approach every video

01
IVF lab experience
IVF Lab Clarity

IVF lab processes such as fertilization, embryo culture, grading, freezing and biopsy, explained by someone who has performed these procedures thousands of times.

02
Research standards
Evidence First

Grounded in peer-reviewed research from journals like Fertility and Sterility and Human Reproduction. No internet myths, no miracle claims. If the evidence has limits, I say so.

03
Patient respect
Still True After a Difficult Cycle

If your cycle did not work, the explanation still has to respect what you went through. It should help you understand the IVF lab part without suggesting that more knowledge would have changed the outcome.

04
Editorial independence
Independent Conclusions

Embryo Care Insights retains final editorial control over the evidence used, the limitations discussed and the educational conclusions in every resource. If any content receives paid support, that relationship will be clearly disclosed. No sponsor can purchase a favorable conclusion or require important limitations to be withheld. No single clinic’s approach will be presented as the standard for every patient.

Peer reviewer
Fertility & Sterility F&S Science Journal of Assisted Reproduction & Genetics Human Reproduction

Trusted by leading medical journals to evaluate new research before publication

09 · Professional perspectives

What Colleagues Say About Working With Me

IVF lab directors, professors and embryologists describe my work, teaching and leadership.

15+ years of professional historyStanford

He became the person leading our CAP accreditations.

Dr. Barry Behr, PhD HCLDProfessor Emeritus, Stanford University
Read Dr. Behr’s full perspective

I have known Vik Reddy for over 15 years. He grew tremendously over the years at Stanford, rapidly acquiring the skills necessary to become a senior embryologist and a prominent figure on the IVF team. He was involved in mentoring new staff, setting the standards for our procedures, and working with me on research projects. He was also knowledgeable about compliance in the IVF lab. He became the person leading our CAP accreditations. Not only is Vik a nice person, he is polite, professional, and was a pleasure to work with.

8 years working togetherIVF lab leadership

Vik possesses superb communication skills and a warm-hearted willingness to assist others.

Jeong Hee Moon, PhD, ALS/ELS (ABOR), TS(ABB), HCLD(ABB)IVF Lab Director, Monterey Bay IVF
Read Dr. Moon’s full perspective

I had the privilege of working alongside Vik for eight years at Stanford. It was an outstanding experience. Vik is an unparalleled expert in embryology and excels in lab management, particularly in CAP inspection. His meticulous approach consistently led to excellent outcomes. Vik possesses superb communication skills and a warm-hearted willingness to assist others, making him an invaluable supporter of our lab. Although I’m saddened that we can no longer work together, I wholeheartedly support his new endeavors as a friend. To put it simply, he was awesome.

Explore all nine professional perspectives

Vik Reddy at the microscope IVF Lab Education From An Embryologist
Who these videos are for

Start with the question you are facing now

Considering or preparing for IVF Waiting for an IVF lab update Reading a report you do not understand Trying to work out what happens next

Your own doctor and care team make the clinical decisions.

Your doctorknows your medical history.

Your clinic’s IVF labknows the protocols used in your cycle.

Embryo Care Insightsis not part of your clinic or its IVF lab and does not have access to your records.

I explain common IVF lab processes and the terms you may hear, so conversations with your own care team are easier to follow. I do not replace your own care team.

Still here

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I Run on Espresso & Embryology

If an Embryo Care Insights video helped you make sense of an IVF lab update, you are welcome to buy me a latte. Your support helps me keep creating patient education, and it genuinely makes my day. Thank you.

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You deserve to understand what is happening to your eggs, sperm & embryos.

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