Cynthia A. Batchelder Graduate Student (Ph.D program) Major Professor: Dr. Gary B. Anderson Phone: (530) 752-7544 FAX: (530)752-0175 E-mail: cabatchelder@ucdavis.edu
Cynthia with clones

Education

B.S., Dairy Science, Virginia Tech, 1982.
M.S., Animal Science, University of California, Davis,1987.
Ph.D., Physiology, University of California, Davis (In Progress).

Project: 

Title:  Development Of Bovine Nuclear Transfer Embryos Cloned From Follicular Donor Cells In Sequential Stages Of Differentiation

Description: Cloning of mammals from adult somatic cells was demonstrated for the first time in 1997 when nuclear-transfer experiments resulted in the birth of Dolly, the sheep produced from cloning of mammary cells from a 6-year old female. Today, less than 5 years later, births of live young cloned from adult somatic cells have been reported in other species and from a variety of donor tissue types. Despite intensive scientific experimentation, the disappointingly low success rate in the birth of live young has improved only slightly. Moreover, cloned fetuses experience a high rate of fetal loss and developmental problems throughout gestation. One possibility for the lack of normal development of cloned embryos produced from adult cells may be incomplete reprogramming of the donor nucleus. This project is testing the hypothesis that stage of differentiation of the nuclear donor cell affects reprogramming of the DNA following cloning. Cloning experiments are conducted using follicular cells in four stages of differentiation to compare embryo development and implantation following transfer to surrogate females. Cloned pregnancies are monitored by ultrasonography to measure growth and development of the fetus and compared to normal, in vivo derived pregnancies. At term, cloned calves are delivered by caesarian and clinical observations recorded. Calves are then monitored for postnatal growth and survivability. Nuclear donor cell cultures are compared with cells of the cloned offspring at the molecular level in an attempt to identify possible sites of incorrect reprogramming of the donor nucleus and to examine relationships to problems observed in the cloned fetuses and calves. Results of this project to date include 16 cloned pregnancies and the birth of the first calf produced by cloning of adult cells in the western United States.