EIGHTEEN PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S BEEF IS PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES BY EIGHT PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S CATTLE. BY INCREASING ANIMAL EFFICIENCY, LESS RESOURCES ARE USED, AND A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT IS LEFT. BETTER GENETICS IS ONE COMPONENT OF INCREASING EFFICIENCY. REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, SUCH AS IN VITRO EMBRYO PRODUCTION, ARE IMPORTANT TOOLS FOR CAPITALIZING ON SUPERIOR GENETICS, AS WELL AS PRESERVING THEM. OF THE LIVESTOCK SPECIES, CATTLE USE MORE EMBRYO TECHNOLOGIES THAN ANY OTHER. JUST IN 2019, 1,419,336 TRANSFERRABLE EMBRYOS WERE PRODUCED WORLDWIDE, FROM WHICH 72.8% WERE IN VITRO PRODUCED. WHILE THIS TECHNOLOGY IS GROWING IN USE, ITS IMPLEMENTATION IS HINDERED BY LOW EFFICIENCY. THE PRATHER AND ROBERTS LABORATORIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI IDENTIFIED FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR 2 (FGF2), LEUKEMIA INHIBITORY FACTOR (LIF), AND INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH FACTOR 1 (IGF1) AS A MOLECULE COCKTAIL (TERMED FLI) WITH THE POTENTIAL TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF IN VITRO EMBRYO PRODUCTION IN LIVESTOCK. HERE, THE PROPOSED STUDIES INVESTIGATE THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF FLI TO THE IN VITRO BOVINE EMBRYO CULTURE SYSTEM THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF TARGET PATHWAYS, SUCH AS JAK/STAT AND MAPK, WHILE ALSO ASSESSING THE ABILITY OF THESE EMBRYOS TO INCREASE PREGNANCY ESTABLISHMENT. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT SUPPLEMENTING FLI DURING BOVINE EMBRYO CULTURE INCREASES STIMULATION OF JAK-STAT AND MAPK DURING THE PREIMPLANTATION PERIOD, THUS PROMOTING EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT, SURVIVAL, AND PREGNANCY ESTABLISHMENT. RESULTS FROM THESE STUDIES WILL BE USED TO OPTIMIZE LIVESTOCK EMBRYO CULTURE SYSTEMS AND INCREASE THE USE OF THIS REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY.