The world’s first Virtual Reality and web application for teaching the process of IVF has just been launched. The solution helps professionals to get all the experience needed to perform their job much faster and much better than it is possible today – especially when remote learning becomes even more necessary. The training application running in VR and also on a regular laptop simulates the whole ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) process involving the egg and the sperm and can be used at universities, in laboratories, or in the living room of the trainees.

The worldwide phenomenon of postponing childbirth means that IVF/ICSI plays a greater role in fulfilling the dreams of couples. To conduct the continuously increasing number of IVF processes requires an ever-increasing pool of professionals who have the required skills to do it. IVF Sim Pro software supports the education, training, and practice of these embryologists and technicians with the benefits of the latest technologies in training – Virtual Reality and 3-dimensional simulation.

The simulator has two versions – a virtual reality version that runs on an Oculus Quest VR headset and a web-based version that runs in a regular internet browser (Edge, Chrome, Safari) on a laptop without the need of any VR hardware.

Web page: www.ivfsimpro.com
Demo video: https://youtu.be/si9R3ivEqI8

Once you subscribe, you can start using it

Web app link: https://arworks.hu/download/ivfwebgl/
Oculus Quest Store link
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3578853542220471/
(search for the IVf Sim Pro app – you’ll find it at the bottom, in the App Lab sub store)

The student arrives in a virtual, 3-dimensional IVF laboratory equipped with all devices necessary for the IVF process. The special microscope with the micromanipulators has the key role – as an additional function its parts can be explored in a special enlarged view

The student starts the actual session with a petri dish containing a few drops visible under the microscope. The first task is to put sperm into one of these drops: a healthy one should be first chosen from the many swimming around, rotated into the right angle and sucked into the sucking needle. One of the great advantages of the simulator becomes clear at this point – it’s programmed in a way that there are always a few deformed sperms in the dish. Their number and type are randomly defined by the software, so there are no two similar sessions. In a real lab, learning with real samples could mean students are not facing all types of the 30+ textbook deformities so they might not be able to recognize it with the required certainty. With IVF Sim Pro the rarest type of deformed sperm will appear in the training.

Students then have to perform all the remaining required steps of the process the same way they would do in a real lab with a real device: moving the two needles around by using the fine or gross controller, applying suction in the right amount at the right point, etc. Throughout this, the visual experience fully reflects the real one – needles, sperms, eggs look like they are real ones.

The next step is to slow down the selected sperm, break its tail, and suck it in the needle again. Next, a healthy egg should be selected – again from some randomly appearing unhealthy ones, for example with missing or deformed polar bodies.

If at any point the student makes a mistake, the software will pause the session, let the student know what happened and give the chance to correct it.

As a next step, the egg should be held in place by the holding needle on the left side then the sucking needle on the right, holding the sperm, has to be moved at the predefined point, at the required angle and in an expected depth into the egg.

Then comes the high point of the process – the sperm is injected by the student into the egg and the fertilization takes place.

The last action is the biopsy, which in real life is done a bit later, but in the IVF Sim Pro can be performed immediately. The trainee finishes the virtual course by entering the zygote with the biopsy needle and taking out a small sample for further analysis.

The student’s work is helped with step-by-step instructions and the current status of all controllers is visible continuously. At a later stage of the training, these hints can be switched off so the soon becoming IVF professional has to do everything without any help using only the acquired experience and knowledge– just like in real life.

As an extra feature, the whole process – just like in a real, well-equipped laboratory – can be followed on the virtual external monitor standing on the virtual table just beside the microscope,

The IVF SIM Pro professional training software is available as a Virtual Reality application running on Oculus Quest – or as a web application, without any special installation, just using a regular PC/Laptop and a Chrome, Edge, or Safari internet browser.

The solution is offered in a subscription-based model with separate packages for individual students and organisational clients.

The IVF SIM Pro software was designed and developed by ARworks LLC, a VR/AR developer with 10 years of experience with the professional lead of Dubai based The IVF Company,