The Student Room Group

Embryology

Hi,
I am currently in year 12 and looking at universities and possible career options. I don't know which course would suit me best, but I am interested in becoming an embryologist or something similar. However, I haven't heard much about this career.
Is there a specific undergraduate course most people take at university and if so what university would be best to study at for this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

Reply 1

Original post by sophammond
Hi,
I am currently in year 12 and looking at universities and possible career options. I don't know which course would suit me best, but I am interested in becoming an embryologist or something similar. However, I haven't heard much about this career.
Is there a specific undergraduate course most people take at university and if so what university would be best to study at for this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

There is a course offered at some Universities that will allow you to work as a fertility specialist. It isn't medicine but I don't know the exact title because I simply can't remember it. I replied because a colleague of mine is doing precisely this course.

Reply 2

Do you mean embryology in the sense of “the study of embryonic development across the animal kingdom”? Historically a branch of comparative anatomy, now pulling on genetics and biochemistry more and more? Evo-Devo and morphogenesis? I would have said general biology or zoology.

I am certainly not planning on specialising there, but it is fascinating I remember being completely blown away at about 14-15 when I first read, in an old book called Borradaile’s Invertebrata, that tetrapods belong to the same clade as starfish! Deuterostomata, the first pore in the blastula is the anus. Then there’s Garstang’s Hypothesis, which places you, me and everything more familiar than a lancelet in the vertebrates as the descendants of a neotenic tunicate larva (which is bilaterally symmetrical, the echinoderms as adults are radially symmetrical, so radically different).
It’s a terribly old book so I cannot begin to imagine just how much more exciting the up-to-dates are.

Incidentally, one of my favourite scientific adventure stories of the last 100 years, the Antarctic “Winter Journey” of Cherry-Garrard, Wilson and Bowers to Cape Crozier, was motivated by the desire to collect an embryo of the Emperor penguin—per Haeckel’s discredited Recapitulation Hypothesis they hoped it might be markedly reptilian.

For the human fœtus, IVF and reproductive biology (extremely noble field) the above answer seems worth chasing up what about these websites?

https://www.careers.nhs.scot/explore-careers/healthcare-science/clinical-scientist-in-embryology/

https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/news/blog/2024/3/15/how-to-become-a-clinical-embryologist-why-an-msc-could-be-the-key

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/clinical-scientist-embryology
(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 3

Original post by Lophocolea
Do you mean embryology in the sense of “the study of embryonic development across the animal kingdom”? Historically a branch of comparative anatomy, now pulling on genetics and biochemistry more and more? Evo-Devo and morphogenesis? I would have said general biology or zoology.
I am certainly not planning on specialising there, but it is fascinating I remember being completely blown away at about 14-15 when I first read, in an old book called Borradaile’s Invertebrata, that tetrapods belong to the same clade as starfish! Deuterostomata, the first pore in the blastula is the anus. Then there’s Garstang’s Hypothesis, which places you, me and everything more familiar than a lancelet in the vertebrates as the descendants of a neotenic tunicate larva (which is bilaterally symmetrical, the echinoderms as adults are radially symmetrical, so radically different).
It’s a terribly old book so I cannot begin to imagine just how much more exciting the up-to-dates are.
Incidentally, one of my favourite scientific adventure stories of the last 100 years, the Antarctic “Winter Journey” of Cherry-Garrard, Wilson and Bowers to Cape Crozier, was motivated by the desire to collect an embryo of the Emperor penguin—per Haeckel’s discredited Recapitulation Hypothesis they hoped it might be markedly reptilian.
For the human fœtus, IVF and reproductive biology (extremely noble field) the above answer seems worth chasing up what about these websites?
https://www.careers.nhs.scot/explore-careers/healthcare-science/clinical-scientist-in-embryology/
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/news/blog/2024/3/15/how-to-become-a-clinical-embryologist-why-an-msc-could-be-the-key
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/clinical-scientist-embryology

Hiya,
Thank you so much for your advice/recommendations. I'll definitely check out the links and the books you mentioned. I did mean human fœtus, IVF, and reproductive biology, but the resources you have listed seem like great reads.
After some research, I think the best route to take is to do an undergraduate course in biology and then do an MSc.
Thank you again.

Reply 4

Original post by ErasistratusV
There is a course offered at some Universities that will allow you to work as a fertility specialist. It isn't medicine but I don't know the exact title because I simply can't remember it. I replied because a colleague of mine is doing precisely this course.

Hi, thank you for your response.

After some research, I think the most popular route is to take an undergraduate course in biology and then do an MSc.However, the course your colleague is taking could be a great option. I will definitely look into what universities offer to work as a fertility specialist. If you do remember the name that would be great.
Thank you for your help.
All the best.

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