Brendan Smalec Receives NSF Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

This fellowship will support Brendan’s work examining cancer susceptibility and progression in a non-traditional mammalian model, specifically, the Peromyscus leucopus, or white-footed mouse.

Working with an inbred line of P. leucopus found to be highly susceptible to developing an adenocarcinoma (cancer from a glandular origin) of the Harderian gland, the project seeks to determine what genetic signatures are present in the inbred mice line that predispose them to developing this cancer, and also what makes it so highly metastatic, since metastasis is usually the cause of death in most cancer-related fatalities.

Congratulations on receiving this a highly competitive and prestigious fellowship, Brendan!

Read the full article from UConn Today.