MILK IS AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF NUTRIENTS IN MOST HUMAN DIETS. MILK PRODUCED BY DAIRY COWS GENERATES MORE THAN 35 BILLION DOLLARS EACH YEAR IN SALES (ABOUT 9% OF U.S. AGRICULTURE EARNINGS). DURING MILK PRODUCTION, COWS ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET AN INFECTION OF THE UDDER CALLED MASTITIS. THIS TRIGGERS AN IMMUNE RESPONSE AND CAUSES WHITE BLOOD CELLS (WBC) TO TRAVEL TO THE INFECTED UDDERS. WHILE THE WHITE BLOOD CELLS WORK TO DESTROY THE INFECTION, THEY RELEASE BYPRODUCTS CALLED OXYGEN RADICALS THAT ALSO DAMAGE THE CELLS THAT PRODUCE MILK WITHIN THE UDDER. BECAUSE OF THIS DAMAGE, INFECTED UDDERS PRODUCE LESS MILK. IN THIS PROJECT WE WILL EXPLORE WAYS THAT THE MILK PRODUCING CELLS TRY TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THIS DAMAGE. IN PARTICULAR, WE WILL STUDY THE FUNCTION OF A SPECIAL DEFENSE PROTEIN CALLED NRF2. NRF2 IS KNOWN TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN REMOVING OXYGEN RADICALS THAT DEVELOP IN OTHER CONDITIONS LIKE AGING AND CANCER IN HUMANS. IF NRF2 PLAYS A SIMILAR ROLE IN THE MILK PRODUCING CELLS, WE WILL LOOK FOR WAYS TO BOOST NATURAL NRF2 ACTIVITY TO BETTER PROTECT THE UDDERS DURING MASTITIS. OVERALL, THIS STUDY WILL IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO PREVENT OR REDUCE THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY MASTITIS, AND WILL HAVE REAL-WORLD IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH-QUALITY MILK BY OUR NATIONAL HERD OF DAIRY COWS.