Lauren OKane, staff research associate in Physiology and Cell Biology, has been named December's Classified Employee of the Month by the Staff Employees Council.

OKane, according to nominator Nancy Horowitz of Physiology and Cell Biology, does her job as a manger of the Molecular Core facility with a "can-do" attitude and, "... goes above and beyond by teaching students, staff and faculty about Molecular Biology. Each year, our department has several (14 students this year) international students in our IURP program. Not only does Lauren teach and supervise the students that are assigned to her but helps most, if not all, with their projects. She is my go-to person if I have a question regarding genetics and mouse genotyping."

Horowitz said that in her duties for the Cell and Tissue Core of the department, she must maintain a colony of more than 30-plus strains of mice.

"I would be unable to do my job without Lauren," Horowitz says. "Lauren assists me with obtaining the samples and then supervises or does the genotyping herself. She has discovered an error in the genotype of a mouse that we purchased from a certified vendor, and they confirmed her result, saving us over three hundred dollars. She has also spent lot of extra time trying to figure out and optimize genotyping protocols.

"Lauren is an outstanding employee and an asset to our department."

OKane says it is the "discoveries" of her work that makes it most enjoyable to her.

"It's remarkable being able to tackle new problems and questions that no one has ever thought about or solved before and then figure them out," she says. "It's quite amazing to be part of the whole process. My co-workers are also a huge part of why I enjoy working at the University.

"They are brilliant, supportive, hardworking, and more importantly, like family. They make it so easy to come to work every day."