Robert Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine on Monday for pioneering conception via in-vitro fertilization. Still, there's only about a 30 percent chance a live birth will result from the procedure. A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, however, has now predicted with 93 percent certainty if an embryo will survive.

"Until recently, we've had so little knowledge about the basic science of our development," Dr. Renee Reijo Pero, chief author of the study and director of Stanford's Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education, said in a statement. "In addition to beginning to understand more about our development, we're hopeful that our research will help improve pregnancy rates arising from in-vitro fertilization, while also reducing the frequency of miscarriage and the need for the selective reduction of multiple embryos."

The study looked at 242 frozen, one cell embryos from the University of Minnesota's Reproductive Medical Center. According to Reijo Pero, they were "half the size of the point of a pin." With a time-lapse camera, researchers recorded the first times these cells divided in the two days following fertilization. This enabled them to analyze differences in the process. From the footage, the team was able to identify specific mathematical parameters that result in a surviving embryo.

"We've always thought of embryos as living or dying, but in reality we find that each cell in the embryo is making decisions autonomously," Pero said. "No one has ever looked at this before."

The research team identified three main factors that are indicative of a healthy embryo. First, these embryos should take no longer than 33 minutes to split into two equal cells. Second, they must divide another time between eight and 14 hours later, resulting in four cells. Finally, six hours after the second division, a third must take place.

Pera and her colleagues received a large grant from an anonymous donor to conduct the research, he said.

New knowledge about the first two days of an embryo's life could aid in making the IVF process easier by reducing the likelihood of miscarriage or the possible need for a selective reduction if multiple embryos implant and develop successfully, researchers said.