Three embryonic laboratories
Pasadena Lab Team
Encino Labs Team
Newport Beach Lab Team
HRC's lab pages feature Pasadena, Encino, and Newport Beach. The laboratory is responsible for processing eggs, sperm and embryos, completing fertilization, embryo culture, freezing and thawing.
| Location | Open Team Leader | Professional background |
|---|---|---|
| Pasadena | Tih Tan, MS, ELD; Embryologist/Lab Director | Master of Science from Washington State University, started working in reproductive medicine in 1985, and participated in the founding of HRC in 1988. |
| Newport Beach／Orange County | Charlotte Khoury, MS, TS; Senior Embryologist/Scientific Director | Master of Science from California State Polytechnic University. Established HRC Orange County laboratory in 2000. Their work includes micromanipulation and vitrification. |
| Encino | Eric Urcia, MS, TS; Scientific Director | James Madison University, BS in biology, Barry University, MS in biomedicine, worked at Weill Cornell Center for Reproductive Medicine. |
Culture and Freezing Technology
HRC introduces its hypoxic incubator and continuous culture medium system to support embryo development in vitro; the laboratory uses vitrification to preserve blastocysts for subsequent frozen embryo transfer.
Culture records, freezing records and test reports are different documents. Patients can obtain information related to their cycle from the laboratory or reception team.
Division of labor between clinical and laboratory
Physicians develop clinical plans, perform egg retrieval and transfer, and explain treatment options; the embryology team performs fertilization, culture, embryo evaluation, and cryopreservation. When it comes to genetic testing, this also includes biopsy, submission, and report interpretation.