A New Project! by Sam Furey

Hi! Most of this post will be all about my independent project and what I’m planning on doing with it!

Before I start explaining all about my independent project, I’ll first talk about my first experiment and my first few weeks in TRIP. For my initial project, I chose to use the drug Fenugreek and used dish soap to mimic the effects of intestinal inflammation as a stressor. Then, the next week, I decided to conduct the Negative Geotaxis Assay, which was an interesting assay to do, and one that I am also incorporating into my independent project. This experiment was really interesting, even though almost all of the flies who were given the dish soap sadly ended up dying, which didn’t allow me to test the effects of the soap on activity.

For my independent project, I’m essentially going to be trying to give my flies Type 2 Diabetes, and then testing the activity levels of the flies with or without being given something to try to counteract the Diabetes. To try and give them diabetes, I increased the amount of sugar mixed into the  food of one vial. Those flies would consume more than their required dose. To try to treat the diabetes, I also gave some of the flies a dosage of cinnamon, which, according to some studies, could reduce blood sugar levels. Starting next week, I’m going to be running tests on the activity levels of my flies and seeing if the increased amounts of sugar or the doses of cinnamon ended up affecting their energy levels. To do this, I plan on conducting the Negative Geotaxis Assay, and also conducting the Larval Locomotion Assay.

I chose to do my project relating to diabetes, as I personally have Type 1 Diabetes, and, even though I know a lot about Type 1, I don’t know as much about Type 2, and, as I couldn’t really think of a way to induce Type 1 into my flies, so I thought that inducing Type 2 would be interesting to study, and would help me to learn more about it!