It is common to thank family, friends, professional colleagues and God when accepting a prestigious award.

When Loretta Mayer accepted her Athena award on Thursday, she gave thanks to the tiny mice at the heart of her research. The award from the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce honors women who are active in community service and have substantially mentored women.

"To think the journey with my little mouse started here in Flagstaff," Mayer said as she accepted the award.

The chief scientific officer of SenesTech, Mayer and her team have developed a drug that can nonsurgically sterilize female dogs, cats and vertebrate pest species. Mayer said by in inducing menopause in rodents, it will lead to better research of certain diseases.

"My passion scientifically is to understand diseases that affect post-menopausal women, primarily cardio-vascular disease," Mayer said. "In order to do that, we need an animal model."

She said the drug she has developed will lead to better, more humane testing of the mice — eliminating the need to surgically sterilize mice in order to test drug therapies. And by leaving the organs in place, Mayer said the tests are more accurate.

"I've always had tremendous respect for all living things and I've always looked at my research mice and appreciated everything they give," she said. "I've always thought this little mouse will save a lot of lives."

Menopausal rodents will also has a unintended side effect in Third World countries struggling to feed billions.

The sterilization of rice rats in Asia, for example, could increase the amount of available rice. Those rats are capable of eating one-fifth to one-third of a rice crop before it is harvested.

'GETTING GIRLS INVOLVED IN SCIENCE'

The nomination of the award came from city's economic development team, which has worked closely with SenesTech.

"Our department nominated Dr. Mayer for the award because of her research and because of her commitment to this community. And to girls — getting girls involved in science," said Becky Daggett, the city's business retention and expansion manager.

SenesTech recently moved into the city's small business incubator adjacent to the USGS Campus on McMillan Mesa.

Mayer is the founder of Girls in Science Summer Day Camp at Northern Arizona University.

The two-week day camp offers 40 teenage girls a chance to experience "CSI-type lab work," such as chemical analysis, soil investigation, blood typing and DNA fingerprinting.

She said the idea for the camp came several years ago after a casual conversation with former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.

SCIENCE AND POP CULTURE

"She said, 'You know, I would really like to see young girls have an experience where they go into a laboratory and get into lab coats and do something hands on,'" Mayer said.

Mayer went to work immediately in order to establish the camp three years ago. The team brainstormed on how to make science interesting to young girls.

"We wanted to give them something they could relate to in pop culture," Mayer said.

She said she wanted to girls to learn that "being a smart geek is kind of cool."

The camp has become extremely popular, prompting Mayer to expand the program in order to accommodate more girls. She said the program has already paid off in her mind — one girl is pursuing a career in biology.

Mayer is also known for asking for volunteers for her summer camp — friends and colleagues pose as victims as the teenage girls investigate the mock crime scenes.

"I just saw an accepted application for undergraduate studies at NAU from a young woman who traveled from San Diego to come to our very first Girls in Science camp," Mayer said. "And she got the bug, she is enrolled and she is a biology major."

Joe Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.