LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine

LifeQuest’s team is comprised of many hard-working, dedicated staff, some of whom work directly with patients, and others who work behind the scenes. By featuring a different staff member on our website on a regular basis we’d like to introduce you to our whole team, help you put a name to a face, and provide you with an opportunity to learn a little about the people who are working with you and your doctor to make your dream of having a family come true.

Oliver Cabaca, B.Sc (Honours), Clinical Embryologist

To start the introductions, we’ve chosen Oliver Cabaca, B.Sc (Honours), Clinical Embryologist in LifeQuest’s on-site embryology lab.

Oliver has been with LifeQuest since 1992, when he joined as a lab technician. Today, he is a Senior Clinical Embryologist, and is responsible for conducting the most detailed Assisted Reproductive Technologies, including IVF, ICSI, Embryo Culture, Embryo Freezing and Thawing, and ensuring quality control in the lab. For example, after the oocyte retrieval, the oocytes are rinsed, stored in petri dishes and placed into the incubator until insemination, in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the sperm sample is counted and prepared in order to obtain a “washed” sample of best quality spermatozoa. With conventional In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) sperm is simply added to the oocytes at a concentration of 50,000 per dish. In the case of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), the oocytes are stripped of their surrounding cumulus and corona cells and assessed for maturity. Only mature oocytes will be injected with sperm. A micromanipulator in conjunction with a high power microscope is used to perform the injection. A single spermatozoon, with good motility and normal morphology, is picked up into the injection pipette. Then the oocyte is held in place with the holding pipette and penetrated with the injection pipette, releasing the spermatozoon into the oocyte. After repeating this procedure for each oocyte, they are returned to the incubator and successful fertilization is determined the following day.

Previously, Oliver has worked in the Andrology department for LifeQuest’s IUI program; and he has received special training in the highly specialized area of PGD Biopsy/Fixation.

Oliver got his B.Sc (Honours) from Carleton University in 1988, specializing in Analytical Cell Biology and Microbiology. He continues to stay abreast of new developments in his field by regularly attending medical conferences focusing on the newest aspects of Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

Oliver says his favorite part of working in the LifeQuest lab is “Putting embryos in the incubator and wishing them good luck! I also like embryo transfers because having nice embryos to transfer is the fruit of our labour. After all the technology, to get to the actual transfer, there is now the potential for something magical to happen and sometimes you can feel this in the hope and excitement of the patients.”

Oliver Cabaca was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a Member of the CFAS (Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society) and the special interest group for ART Laboratory. He has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed articles, abstracts and posters in the field of infertility research, including PH as an Indicator of Quality for Embryo Culture, for the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society’s 54th Annual Meeting 2008; Comparison of Day 5 IVF/ICSI Culture Results with and Without Assisted Hatching on Day 3 for a CFAS Conference in Jasper, Alberta in 2004; and Prospective Evaluation of Embryo Culture and Transfer Media, HTF/10%SSS, G Series Media, Global Media, and Embryo Glue, for a CFAS Conference in Charlevoix, Quebec in 2002.

In his spare time, Oliver is interested in bicycling, cross country skiing, yoga, and origami. LifeQuest is delighted to have Oliver as part of our dedicated team of embryologists.