When Adversity Sparked a Revolution: How Cara Wells Is Redefining Embryo Health Through Real-Time AI

The legal dispute that threatened to derail Cara Wells’s career ultimately became the catalyst for a breakthrough in reproductive medicine. After seven years developing a novel embryo viability assessment technology during her PhD, Wells faced an insurmountable obstacle: a faculty member who had previously harassed her used his influence to block the university license she needed, undermine her role on the patent, and prevent her from commercializing the technology she helped create.

It was 2017, and Wells had just earned her PhD in reproductive physiology. The situation escalated into formal legal proceedings. For many researchers, this would have ended a career.

Instead, a mentor offered advice that would change everything: “Take this experience and make it the best thing that ever happened to you.”

Today, as founder and CEO of EmGenisys and Viable Biosciences, Wells has done exactly that. She has built the first platform that combines real-time embryo video analysis with machine learning, giving IVF clinics new insights into embryo health as it unfolds, moment by moment.

The Light Bulb Moment

During that difficult chapter, Wells kept returning to a question that would become her north star: if we can train machines to interpret complex environments and drive autonomously, why couldn’t we teach them to understand embryo development?

“Embryos are living, dynamic organisms where the cells are actively dividing, differentiating, and undergoing many active processes that cannot be perceived by the human eye,” Wells explains. “A video has exponentially more biological information than a single photograph, yet ‘AI,’ ‘embryo video analysis,’ and ‘cellular dynamics modeling’ were almost completely absent from the literature.”

The realization opened a new path forward. The technology Wells had previously developed was not image-based; it was a specific-gravity chamber designed to measure embryo buoyancy. At the same time, advances in imaging and artificial intelligence were rapidly transforming other fields.

“For the first time in years, I felt a true path forward, built on insights and intellectual property that were uniquely my own,” Wells recalls. That moment became the foundation for what would eventually become Viable Bio, a technology with the potential to change how embryo health is understood and supported.

Why This Matters for Women’s Health

The statistics are sobering. IVF now accounts for more than 2 percent of all U.S. births, yet live birth rates remain around 26 percent. Despite four decades of progress, including better stimulation protocols, genetic testing, and culture systems, the field still relies heavily on subjective assessments of embryo quality.

“I’m 34, and I can count on one hand how many of my peers were conceived through fertility treatment,” Wells notes. “Even then, they were IUI, not IVF.”

For the millions of women and families pursuing IVF each year, this means uncertainty, repeated cycles, emotional exhaustion, and significant financial strain. With each cycle costing between $15,000 and $30,000, and many patients requiring multiple attempts, the need for better predictive tools is not just scientific. It is deeply personal.

Building the Foundation: From Cattle to Clinic

Wells’s approach to solving this problem is deliberate and data-driven. Before capturing video of a single human embryo, her team collected video data on tens of thousands of bovine embryos through EmGenisys, which continues to work with cattle embryo programs across nearly every continent.

“The scientist in me is grounded in the reality that none of this is possible without rigorous, defensible data,” Wells explains. In animal models, her team identified embryo activity patterns associated with healthy pregnancies, stress, metabolic function, and survival after cryopreservation. They also refined the technical foundations of video capture, including stabilization, lighting, resolution, and consistency.

This cattle-first strategy was also rooted in ethics. “Research on human embryos is not something I take lightly,” Wells says. “The work we have done in cattle has significantly de-risked our transition into human IVF so patients do not feel like a science experiment, but instead feel that real, tangible results are possible.”

The Next Frontier: Real-Time Understanding

What sets Viable Bio apart is its shift from retrospective analysis to real-time assessment. Traditional embryo evaluation relies on morphology, or what an embryo looks like at specific points in time. Genetic testing provides additional information, but it remains static.

Viable Bio’s platform measures acute indicators of embryo stress as they occur, capturing biological processes that are invisible to the human eye.

“This allows us not only to identify which embryos are healthiest but also to understand how specific lab protocols, media, timing, and manipulations directly influence development,” Wells explains. “This is the shift coming next: using real-time, live developmental data to improve every embryo, not just select among them.”

Beyond selection, Viable Bio is already being used to address long-standing questions in embryology. By linking real-time biology with clinical decision-making, the technology points toward a future where IVF outcomes improve because clinicians better understand how to support embryo health from the very beginning.

The Weight of Trust

The responsibility Wells feels toward those who believe in this work is clear. Leading clinicians have adopted the platform, and families have reached out directly to donate embryos for research.

“The first time a family contacted me directly and asked to donate their embryos was a profoundly humbling moment,” Wells reflects. “It made me acutely aware of how much hope patients place in this technology.”

That trust shapes how the company operates, from transparency around methods and results to close collaboration with clinicians. With 15 issued patents and more than 40 international patent applications, Wells has built credibility through scientific rigor rather than hype.

From Dripping Springs to the Future of Reproductive Medicine

Today, Wells lives in Dripping Springs, Texas, with her husband, two horses, a boxer dog, and a cat. EmGenisys continues to operate globally in animal agriculture, while Viable Bio brings real-time, machine-learning-driven embryo analysis into clinical IVF practice.

The path from legal conflict to building two companies reflects resilience, mentorship, and long-term vision. What began as adversity became a foundation for innovation that may ultimately help millions of families.

As Viable Bio continues to generate insights with direct clinical relevance, Wells remains focused on the same goal: improving IVF outcomes by understanding how to support embryo health from the moment of fertilization onward.

Follow Cara's journey: Emgenisys | LinkedIn

About Women at the Helm

Women at the Helm is an interview series celebrating the founders and leaders redefining what’s possible in women’s health. We spotlight the bold voices driving innovation in femtech—women who are building with purpose, leading with vision, and reshaping care for the better.