1/13/03 Jamie Creamer, 334/ 844-4877

AU GRAD STARTS POSTDOCTORAL WORK AT YALE MED SCHOOL

AUBURN -- An Auburn University graduate student, whose research on pigs' reproductive biology may have implications for humans, has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine.

Becky Tarleton, who received her doctoral degree from AU on Dec. 16, will continue research in Yale's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, on the role of genes and gene products that determine how the female reproductive tract develops and functions.

Tarleton, daughter of Allen and Elaine Tarleton of Clarke County, earned her bachelor of science degree in animal sciences from AU in 1992 and her master's degree in reproductive physiology from West Virginia University in 1999. Her doctoral research was directed by Frank Bartol, AU professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and adjunct professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Tarletonšs doctoral research was funded by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative.

At Yale, her work as a uterine biologist will expand to include identification of other genes that regulate critical developmental events in the female reproductive tract.

Tarleton said her research at Yale could continue for two to four years or longer.

jan03:AU-yale

CONTACT: Tarleton, 203/606-9025; or Frank Bartol, 334/844-1506.