Population variation in human pre-implantation embryo development, or: how I learned to stop worrying and love IVF data.

The early mammalian embryo is the physicist's dream for studying development. Between fertilization and implantation in the uterus, the mammalian embryo undergoes a global reorganization (compaction) followed by a symmetry-breaking differentiation (blastocyst formation), with no external direction from the mother. While studies on mouse embryos illuminate the mechanisms of development, the genetic homogeneity of lab mice obscures the natural variability in mammalian development. Here, we examine thousands of videos of human embryos recorded during IVF procedures to explore the natural variability in mammalian preimplantation embryo development. We leverage this variability to infer possible regulatory mechanisms in early development. Finally, we will discuss our work on extending non-invasive 3D microscopy to imaging human embryos.