Jobs in the Bovine Reproduction Lab offer undergraduates like Charity Syverson an opportunity to learn advanced scientific technologies such as in vitro fertilization. The lab is one of four or five places in the country to offer this service, so we get some of the best cows in the state and the country. The lab is also a busy research and teaching center. To grow these embryos, we need to put them into surrogate mothers, so the herd receives embryos from CALS research labs as well as clients' cows. The lab is also used for studies of embryogenesis, freezing techniques, and other embryo manipulation procedures.
Cows come to campus and students go to the lab.
Many undergraduates are very taken with in-vitro technology, and volunteer to work in the labs doing IV just to learn the technology. Students find jobs in all aspects of the animal industry, and also the human in-vitro fertilization industry. Animal scientists are among the only ones with extensive training in handling mammalian sperm, eggs and embryos, according to Rutledge.