Lauren O'Connell tugs a Latex glove over her fingers and gently lifts a mouse from its cage. She turns it belly up in her palm, and with her other hand, confidently palpates both sides of the mouse's body to feel for tumors in its mammary glands. Lauren, a senior in the Veterinary and Animal Sciences Department, is part of a breast cancer research team led by Associate Professor Joseph Jerry that is studying how early pregnancy reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer.

On another day, you might find Lauren at the UMass Amherst Hadley Barn. There she could be vaccinating a pregnant ewe or castrating a newborn boar. She might also be cleaning stalls or administering medicine to a sick animal. During her freshman year, she did these tasks as homework for an introductory animal science course. Later on, the same work earned her some pocket money.

"Students help out in every facet of the animals' care," says Livestock Manager Alice Newth. "The animals are available for teaching labs that occur throughout the year."

Lauren says she chose to study at UMass Amherst because "you can take animal science in any direction you want," and she certainly has. A long-time animal lover who hopes to be a private practice veterinarian, Lauren has also done two internships: one at a veterinarian's office and one at an animal shelter.

In her sophomore year, Lauren was looking for a lab in which to do research for her senior honors thesis. She was drawn to Joe's lab for the opportunity to learn animal surgical techniques.

"She picked up the surgical procedures so quickly," says Joe, "that we handed over an experiment to her. She got the mice at a certain age, transplanted the tissues as selected, and followed those mice for about 10 months, tracking when and where tumors formed."

Lauren points to a slide she prepared by slicing and dying sections of mammary tissue extracted from a mouse. She says that looking at the effects of estrogen and progesterone on the tissue will show if the structure of the gland is changed by pregnancy, or whether the hormones affect a protective pathway on the cellular level. A third possibility, she explains, is that pregnancy changes the total ratio of hormones in the body.

"The target of the whole lab is to determine the pathway between pregnancy and protection. Once that pathway is understood, then you can manipulate it toward prevention or treatment of disease," Lauren explains.

In addition to her independent study in the lab, Lauren participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, a 10-week, intensive summer program that offers students a stipend and an opportunity to work in collaboration with faculty and professionals in a variety of fields, including those at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute located in Springfield, MA.

"When I was in the REU, I worked full time and at a faster pace than I did during the school year," Lauren explains. "We did presentations, each time addressing a larger audience made up of peers and faculty from various departments."

"Lauren had to answer questions on her feet, and I was very impressed," commented Joe. "If she has an opportunity to speak about her research, she could be, on that particular topic, the expert in the room."

Lauren's expertise runs both deep and broad. "I tried a little bit of everything," she says about her choice to straddle the worlds of basic science in the lab and that of practical application at the farm and in her internships.

Newth agrees that getting a well-rounded experience benefits students. "Even those students who plan to go into research need the experience of the farm. If they understand how animal managers make their decisions, their research objectives will be more in-line with what animals and farmers need. Long-acting medications, for example. If you can treat your herd once rather than multiple times a day, it's much more beneficial."

Lauren says she is pleased by what she contributed to the breast cancer research. "Animals get cancer, too," she points out.