Lauren McCrystal

Lauren is a second-year master’s student in the Animal Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences (ABBS) program at UMass Amherst. She is originally from East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from the University of Rhode Island in 2024, graduating summa cum laude and receiving the University Academic Excellence Award. 

During her undergraduate studies, Lauren conducted research focused on fetal maternal programming. In her work, she extracted metabolites from bovine pancreas tissue to investigate the role of maternal nutrition during pregnancy. She also worked as a veterinary technician, where she developed strong hands-on skills in animal handling, clinical techniques, and laboratory procedures.

At UMass, Lauren has served as a teaching assistant for several animal science courses, including One Health, Animal Anatomy and Physiology lab, Animal Welfare, Biotechnology lab, and Introduction to Animal Management. Her master’s research in the Arcaro lab focuses on implementing an assay to measure telomere length in human milk samples. Lauren is particularly interested in understanding how telomere length changes based on factors including BRCA mutation status and exposure to inflammation. 

Outside of her academic work, Lauren enjoys spending time with her cat, Peter, cooking and baking gluten-free and dairy-free recipes, being with friends and family, and spending time outdoors.