Fellowship in Embryology is a training programme conducted by Medline Academics through which we run various training programmes on Embryology and all the finer aspects of Embryology. Along with this, we also conduct a course on Embryology Lab Technician, IVF nursing, etc. We train people in these typical skillsets that are associated with an IVF centre. There are many options and training institutes for this 1 year course. In this course, you are taught Embryology, Embryology, IVF and Simulation. So, you have to complete this course. After that, you need 4 years of experience in IVF lab. After that, you can pursue Embryology.

As a career embryologist, it feels very enticing, it feels very good, it feels very high-five. You can see money in it. But along with this, there are many things that are very important for everyone to know before adopting it as a career. Especially the young generation. And through this blog, we hope that all those questions, all those nit-pickings, all those things that as a career, when you take up any profession, when you go into any profession, it is very important to know this.

What is Embryology?

When we make embryos out of eggs and sperm outside the human body, by whatever fertilisation technique we use, and after proper maintenance and growth of these embryos, we maintain it until it is transferred to the female body. This whole part is the part of embryology. And for this, the embryologists are responsible.

The part of embryology is also the responsibility of an embryologist. So, through semen analysis, it is the job of an embryologist to find out how this sample is, whether it is healthy or not, how is the sperm's health, and to give all this feedback to a clinician or doctor. This is also the job of an embryologist.

How to prepare a sample? What method to use for IUI? Sample processing. When you cryopreserve or freeze sperm, how do you freeze it? All this is the role of an embryologist. Whether you want to choose embryology as a career or not, if you want to know that, then join our embryology course in Bangalore.

The advanced embryology course for embryologists is an observership programme of 5 to 6 days, in which you shadow us on how the IV lab works. You go to the IVF Lab, you see, you understand all our work. So, this observership programme gives you a basic idea, whether you can opt for this as a career or not.

Let us understand what embryology course duration details are required to become an Embryologist. Well, there are more than one way to become an Embryologist.

The most straightforward way is getting a Fellowship in Embryology. After pursuing this course, you need 3 years of experience in an ART Level 2 certified lab i.e. IVF centre in simple words. This course has to be attended offline i.e. in person full time, or in hybrid mode.

The prerequisite for this course is to complete Bachelors in Life Sciences and only after that you can pursue Masters in Clinical Embryology. And it is pretty lucrative even for doctors who have done MBBS. After MBBS, you need 2 years of experience in IVF lab i.e. from any registered ART Level 2 centre. After that, you can practise Embryology.

The third way is MSc in Biotechnology or Microbiology. After MSc, you need 1 year of full-time training in Clinical Embryology from any certified institute. Unfortunately, there is no regulating body in India through which this certified training can be provided.

And the last way is PhD holders. If you have done Masters in Life Sciences and your doctorate is on specific topic of Embryology, then after pursuing PhD, you can gather 1 year of lab experience from any IVF lab. And then you can pursue Embryology as a career.

So, is it easy to get a job as an Embryologist after completing this course? When you talk about Embryology, the first stepping stone for Embryology is Andrology Lab. In Andrology Lab, you can handle and assess a small damage, i.e., sperm which is present in millions.

When you can handle it properly, care for it and assess it, only then you qualify to become an Embryologist.

Because before handling eggs, you should know how to handle sperm completely and there should be no ifs and buts. Most of the times, we have seen that newcomers do not like the work of Andrology Lab. They think that any technician can do this work and they want to get into IVF lab as soon as possible. And the first thing they have to do is to excel. Because they think that their job profiling will be the most valuable. But this is a wrong approach.

The first approach should be to master your skill set. When you learn to handle sperm, when you can properly assess sperm and semen sample, only then you can qualify to handle a precious gamete like ovum or egg. So, to answer your question, entry level job into an Andrology Lab of an IVF centre is not so difficult to get.

However, it is not necessary to get a job in the same city where you live. So, to gather initial few years of experience, you may have to go to another city. But you should be ready to gain this experience and you should not be in a hurry.

You should give yourself at least 3 to 4 years when you can learn this thing properly. If you are persistent and work according to your experience, and not according to your job hop and switch, then you will be able to progress as an embryologist within a few years. In the next article, we will talk about the career progression in embryology as a career and what is the base skill of an embryologist.