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Page 4
College Station, Texas
Thursday, September 26, 1963
THE BATTALION
New Lab Seeks Reproductive Secrets
A sparkling new laboratory at
A&M University is quietly probing
some of nature’s most complex
secrets—the reproductive process
es of fa :n anima’s.
The facility is the Animal Hus
bandry's Department of Physiolegy
of Reproduction Laboratory, -wLi •'
is devoted to a better understand
ing of livestock fertility.
Heading the lab is Dr. A. M.
Sorensen, who believes the unit
is outstanding among those found
at agricultural schools.
THE LABORATORY is housed
in a completely remode ed, air
conditioned building which once
was A&M’s milk test building just
west of the campus. Remodeling
funds came partly from a $30,000
National Science Foundation grant
matched by a like amount from the
university.
In the structure’s 4,800 square
feet of usable floor space are a
wide variety of scientific equip
ment, graduate student facilities,
offices, animal stalls and an opera
ting room. Sorensen and Dr. ‘.
T. Morrow, assistant professor o
animal husbandry, are especially
proud of three electro: ic units for
radio isotope work.
THE EQUIPMENT includes a
decade sea er, proportional counter
and converter, and scintillation de
tector, all of which work together
to count potency of radioactive
materials.
All these facilities can be seen
at an open house to be held 1-5
p.m. Oct. 11.
The Department of Animal Hus
bandry has pioneered fertility stu
dies in Texas. Some of these find
ings have found practical applica
tion on farms and ranches.
Fertility testing of bulls, for
example, is practiced by many pro
gressive cattlemen. The system
is based on semen evaluation. An
other program to come out of the
experiments is pregnancy diagnosis
of cows, an accurate method of
cul ing out loafer animals.
'SORENSEN SAID there are a
number of research projects under
way in the lab which will someday
help fertility problems in all types
of livestock.
To name of few, there is in
vitro (outside) fertilization of ova
(egg) of cows. Ova will be taken
from a cow and fertilized in the
laboratory to get planned mating .
or pre-planned heredity. Then the
ova will be frozen and stored for
future use. The system could be
ca 1 an ova bank.
Later, one fertilized ova can be
placed in pust any healthy cow, and
the calf will bear the chai'acteris-
tics of thp sire and the original
dam.
ANOTHER PROGRAM is an
overall study of cattle fertility.
Groups of animals with known
fertility are sacrificed to see if
there is any relationship between
fertility and tissue cells, conception,
blood calcium, blood phosphorus,
albumin and thyroid activity.
There also is a study underway
to measure relationship between
thyroid activity and fertility based
on radio isotope measurement.
Sorensen pointed out. The system
gauges thyroid in the blood serum
without injecting any radioactive
material into the live animal.
One of the most significant re
search projects is known as syn
chronization of estrus. Sorenser
says it will definitely have practi-
ca. application when worked oul
This involves bringing cows int
heat all at one time to make arti-
fieal breeding more efficient. The
result could be concentration .o
labor and calf crops at one sea
son.
SORENSEN is the first to admit
that the science of reproduction
physiology has only been dented
by researchers.
“There are a lot of things we
don’t know,” he said. “We haven’t
dug into this area nearly as long
as we have in animal nutrition and
management. We know what hap
pens many times, but not always
why.”
Answering those “why” is the
objective of the laboratory.
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