Silent and intent, three 17-year-olds peered into a tiny glass tube holding blood plasma from a tumor-prone mouse.

Three sets of dreams had brought these teenagers from Lake County to a UC Davis cancer lab.

Years from now, they think, one might become a neurologist, another a surgeon, the third a kinesiologist specializing in sports injuries.

This week, they are high school juniors participating in a new science internship that is the personal mission of Michael DeGregorio, a professor and researcher at the UC Davis Cancer Center in Sacramento.

DeGregorio grew up on a farm south of Clear Lake in Kelseyville, a place he describes as "very rural, very low income … (with) very little opportunity for anyone to go into science."

Partly because he was sick of driving a tractor, DeGregorio mastered science anyway, and went on to develop tumor-measuring techniques and drugs targeting breast cancer and other ills.

Today, he leads a team studying an experimental vaccine that could prime the body's immune system to attack breast cancer.

His lab is also looking at a different drugs' potential for easing some symptoms of menopause.

DeGregorio, now 54, still drives back and forth regularly to a family farm in Kelseyville, and he wants to give some of the brightest youngsters in Lake County a fighting change against the children of privilege.

Among the first three teens chosen for his internship program, two missed out on high school calculus or chemistry courses they wanted because of budget cuts.

One took a biology class that relied on donations to buy lab animals.

Yet they hope to fight their way into America's top universities, edging past students who attended wealthy schools with lavish course lists and gleaming labs.

"My idea was to make sure these kids didn't get lost in the system, and to give them an opportunity to compete against the blue bloods," DeGregorio said.

To help his interns stand out on college applications, he designed the internship to be competitive, awarded based on a written application and a round of interviews. The winning students will come away with a letter of recommendation for college admission offices.

All of that was part of the lure for Andrea White, who already has her sights set on Harvard Medical School.

"You've got to think about the highest," she said, her blond hair pulled back into a lab-sensible ponytail, her borrowed lab coat gleaming white with a crisp blue "DeGregorio Lab" stitched above the pocket.

In just the second day of a two-week stay, White was already delighted with how "hands on" the program was. The interns will analyze plasma, liver and tumor samples from mice to determine how they were affected by different doses of the study drug.

The teens will divide their days between the lab and other UC Davis facilities, where they will watch mice being scanned for possible lung tumors, and be introduced to flow cytometry equipment that helps sort and assess cells.

"I'm so excited – this is the kind of work I wish we could do in our high school classes," said Courtney Havrilla, who like White is hoping to become a doctor who treats cancer patients.

Their fellow intern, Kristyn Bridges, is considering studying the human body in motion – kinesiology – partly because "I'm terrified of needles."

Like her fellow interns, she was alternately awed and fascinated by the cluttered lab spread out before her.

"I love this program," she said. "This means a lot to me."

On Tuesday, the teens learned how to deftly suction plasma out of one vial into another, preparing to combine it with a solvent to extract remnants of the drug each mouse has absorbed.

"You have to apply pretty gentle suction," said researcher Greg Wurz, a pharmacologist coaching the teens. "There you go. Now read the volume. Each little line is one 100th."

Step by step, Wurz introduced them to pipettes, a fume cabinet, a vortex mixer and a centrifuge. Later, each teen will be assigned her own mouse to collect and analyze further samples.

"What we want them to have is an exposure to real world science," said Wurz, who along with DeGregorio and two molecular biologists helped chose this year's interns.

Five were selected, one from each Lake County high school. It was a tough choice, said Wurz, who was impressed with the academic achievements of the contenders.

Two more high school juniors, Sarah Kuehn and Emilia Rubin, are scheduled to attend later this summer.

Along with instruction, the internship gives each student a $2,000 stipend and provides housing in Sacramento for the intern and a parent.

The program, which DeGregorio estimates will cost around $25,000 in its first year, is being funded by a $3 million Merck grant that primarily supports his cancer research.

It would be nice, but a little grandiose, to think that the internship program might give a leg up to a student who one day could make major strides against cancer, DeGregorio said.

He expects the program to hit a less lofty but deeply satisfying goal: helping a handful of smart, ambitious teenagers grow toward their dreams.

Call The Bee's Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, (916) 321-1086.