**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** AMERICANS CONSUME LARGE AMOUNTS OF BEEF AND DAIRY PRODUCTS, WITH THIS CONSUMPTION INCREASING IN RECENT YEARS AND SHOWING NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN. TO MEET THIS DEMAND, FARMERS NEED TO MAINTAIN OR INCREASE THE SIZE OF THEIR HERDS OF CATTLE IN AN EFFICIENT MANNER WHILE ENSURING ONLY THE BEST CATTLE REPRODUCE. UNFORTUNATELY, MANY BEEF AND DAIRY FARMS STRUGGLE WITH POOR FERTILITY IN THEIR HERDS. MANY OF THE WAYS IN WHICH SCIENTISTS ARE TRYING TO HELP INCREASE CATTLE FERTILITY INVOLVE RECREATING PART OF THE REPRODUCTION PROCESS IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. IN FEMALE CATTLE, OR COWS, ASSISTED REPRODUCTION TECHNIQUES OFTEN INVOLVE TAKING THE FEMALE EGG CELLS, OR OOCYTES, AND GROWING THEM IN A LAB BEFORE FERTILIZING THEM WITH SPERM. THIS CREATES EMBRYOS THAT CAN BE TRANSFERRED INTO A HOST COW THAT WILL GROW THE EMBRYO AND EVENTUALLY GIVE BIRTH TO A HEALTHY BABY CALF. HOWEVER, IN ORDER TO CREATE THE BEST TECHNIQUES, WE NEED TO FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW OOCYTE DEVELOPMENT WORKS IN COWS.WHILE WE CURRENTLY USE RELATIVELY MATURE OOCYTES IN LABORATORY SYSTEMS, THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO BE ABLE TO USE VERY IMMATURE OOCYTES THAT EXIST IN MUCH LARGER NUMBERS IN COWS. USING THE MORE ABUNDANT IMMATURE OOCYTES LETS US PRODUCE MORE CALVES PER COW. IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE SYSTEMS USED TO GROW OOCYTES IN A LAB, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW THOSE OOCYTES GROW INSIDE A COW AND HOW GROWING IN A LAB AFFECTS THEM. IN THIS PROJECT, I PLAN TO FOCUS ON A SINGLE COMPONENT, THE PROTEIN CONNEXIN 37 (CX37) THAT HELPS OOCYTES GET NUTRIENTS AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS FROM SURROUNDING SUPPORT CELLS WHILE GROWING. CX37 HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE IMPORTANT FOR MATURE OOCYTES, BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN STUDIED MUCH IN IMMATURE OOCYTES. MY OBJECTIVE IS TO DETERMINE THE FUNCTION OF CX37 DURING EARLY OOCYTE DEVELOPMENT IN THE HOPES THAT MY RESEARCH WILL DIRECTLY LEAD TO IMPROVEMENTS IN OOCYTE GROWTH SYSTEMS IN LABS. WITH EFFICIENT OOCYTE GROWTH SYSTEMS, FARMERS WILL BE ABLE TO QUICKLY BREED ONLY THE BEST COWS IN LARGE NUMBERS, MAINTAINING THE SUPPLY OF HIGH-QUALITY BEEF AND DAIRY PRODUCTS IN THE UNITED STATES.