City Fertility Centre partnered with the University of the Sunshine Coast in January to offer a work placement program for biomedical science students.
Eleven students embarked on a two-day program at City Fertility Centre’s Brisbane City and Brisbane Southside laboratories to observe the application of clinical Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) techniques to prepare them for work in the field.
While students did not have contact with patients, they observed all elements of embryology, including egg pick-up, sperm analysis, sperm freezing, embryo transfer and the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) technique whereby a single sperm is inserted directly into a mature egg.
City Fertility Centre Southside program manager Paul Diggles said the work placement program was a unique opportunity for students to experience a real clinical working environment.
“The seven students were pleased to gain a clearer picture of the kind of working environment and day-to-day tasks undertaken in an IVF lab,” Mr Diggles said.
City Fertility Centre Brisbane laboratory manager Emmy Hung said the four students hosted by the inner-Brisbane clinic all reported that their experiences confirmed their interest in working in the field of ART in the future.
“We received very positive feedback from the students, who said they enjoyed going beyond the theory to observe real-world applications of their field of study,” Ms Hung said.
Picture: City Fertility Centre work placement students Kylie Hopkins and Annette Braxton (first and third from left) with City Fertility Centre Southside’s Paul Diggles and Jaime Oswald.
