A Brief Summary of the Past Two Weeks of TRIP by Emily Zhang

Hi guys! Emily here. I didn’t realize we were halfway through the program already. Wow, time really ‘flies’. We are currently on week 3 of TRIP and have begun our independent projects! I find myself eagerly waiting for every Tuesday and Thursday of the week to be part of the lab and can not wait to see how far the projects will take us. 

Prior to establishing our independent projects, we needed to familiarize ourselves with the procedures and protocols of handling the flies and the 16 pages of the techniques packet (which I will say is very impressive and interesting). Once we had these skills under our belt, we were given an introductory experiment; mine question, “How do valerian and high sugar diet affect the mobility of fruit flies?”. Through this experiment, I put the flies to sleep using carbon dioxide and sorted a total of 80 female and 80 male fruit flies based on their characteristics. I learned that by feeding the flies valerian, a drug historically used for insomnia and anxiety, coupled with a high sugar diet, the flies overall mobility decreased drastically. This was due to the drug having a sleepiness effect on the flies and the high sugar diet also negatively impacted the flies’ mobility. One would think that sugar would excite the flies but when a high sugar diet is implemented in their system for a period of time, the flies will become more prone to health issues. ​

After the introductory experiments, it is time for our personal independent experiments. I value women’s health. Although pregnancy is not desirable for everyone, many women struggle with infertility which brings social and psychological problems to their health; women’s reproductive health affects their overall wellbeing, mental health, hormones, dietary restrictions, etc. Therefore, seeking a possible solution, I found Angelica Sinensis. Angelica Sinensis, also known as Dong Quai, has been used in Chinese medicine for a long time; mainly for female reproductive health. I want to test how accurately and to what extent this herb has an effect on the rate of female fertility. Hopefully, I will be able to receive positive results!