While some high school students are deciding what their summer plans will be when they get out of school, Cooperstown senior Erin Dauchy is working on finding a cure for breast cancer.

"It's time to find a cure," she stated during her lunch break at school on Monday.

Dauchy recently won first place in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, held in Albany, for her research on the effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid on a particular pathway in cancer cells.

Her father Robert Dauchy, Manager of the Laboratory of Chrononeuroendocrine Oncology at Bassett Healthcare's Research Institute, said recently that the research she was involved in "demonstrated for the first time in human breast tumors in vivo, that specific isomers of conjugated linoleic acid (produced by ruminants and found in dairy products such as milk, cheese and beef) dramatically inhibited tumor growth and metabolism."

Dauchy began conducting the research in the Bassett Healthcare Research Institute during her junior year of high school. The manuscript she wrote and presented in Albany this past week, entitled "Differential inhibition of fatty acid transport in tissue-isolated steroid receptor negative human breast cancer xenografts perfused in situ with isomers of conjugated linoleic acid," has recently been accepted and will soon be published by the prestigious scientific journal, "Cancer Letters."

"I was very surprised. The level of competition was incredible. I definitely wasn't expecting to win," said Dauchy.

"I am ecstatic," commented CCS high school principal Gary Kuch. "She has taken her knowledge and applied it."

Dauchy had attended the science symposium during her junior year and placed fourth. Going back again this year, she found it even more challenging. Dauchy competed against five other students, summing up six months of work in two minutes for the judges, she explained.

As if that wasn't impressive enough, she also traveled with her father to the 95th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in Orlando, Fla. and presented her research findings there as well. She was one of two high school students to present.

She admitted that she was nervous at first. The questions she received were a lot harder to answer.

However, Dauchy felt that her "work was received very well because it was the first work of its kind." It was conducted with a certain breed of a tumor which has been unresponsive to previous treatment.

"I'd like to see this go to a clinical trial someday," she admitted.

Dauchy's interest in scientific research, specifically breast cancer research, stemmed on a more personal level than just competitions and presentations.

"I've been interested in breast cancer research because my family has had two members who had breast cancer, both when they were young," she said.

Her plans after high school include attending SUNY New Paltz, majoring in Biology and specializing in cell and molecular biology.

She has also been recruited to join the swim team, just as her father did when he attended SUNY New Paltz.

"I'm following in his foot steps all the way," she said with a smile.