Inside the IVF Lab: Where technology and humanity combine to help you make a baby

Here is a look behind the scenes of Columbia University Fertility Center's IVF lab to show the incredible and wondrous work to help bring life into the world. We made this video to honor the strength and courage of all our patients, and the talented and dedicated team at Columbia University Fertility Center who work with patients, and behind the scenes and airlock doors of the IVF lab to help every patient.

Details:
0:04-0:06: The ICSI needle used to place sperm into the egg
0:08-0:30: Daily testing and quality control checks of media and incubators.
0:35-0:45: A specialized robot developed at Columbia University Fertility Center placing embryo culture media into the wells where the embryos will be grown.
0:46-0:49: A patient being walked into the procedure room for her egg retrieval.
0:50-0:57: Under ultrasound guidance, a needle aspirates the egg from a follicle in the ovary.
0:58-1:12: The egg and fluid from the ovarian follicle is collected in a sterile tube and placed in an incubator in the IVF lab.
1:12-1:29: The egg is prepared for fertilization.
1:30- 1:44: The egg is brought to the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) station
1:44-1:55: Using an ICSI needle, a single sperm (visible in the needle) is placed into the egg.
1:55-2:00: The fertilized egg is placed into a specialized incubator.
2:00-2:16: Time-lapse imaging of the developing embryo. You can see the initial cell divisions as the embryo divides to 6-8 cell by day 3 and then becomes a blastocyst consisting of 200-300 cells by day 5.
2:17-2:30: The embryo (blastocyst) is placed into a soft plastic catheter.
2:28-2:40: Under ultrasound guidance, the soft plastic catheter (visible as a bright white line) is gently guided through the cervix and into the uterus. The embryo is then released into the uterus (visible as a flash of white from the end of the catheter).
2:42-3:06: Ultrasound images of the embryo developing inside the uterus.
3:03: The reason we do all we do- to help bring life and joy into the world. A happy patient of ours and her adorable baby.

Credits:
Music: Jacob Ladegaard's performance of Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi. Jacob's Piano:    / @jacobspiano  

Time-lapse microscopy movie of embryo developing produced on Embryoscope by Vitrolife:    • EmbryoScope Embryo Development - Blastocyst  

Ultrasound images of fetus developing: PregnancyChat    • 9 Months In The Womb: A Remarkable Look At...