A Quick TRIP into My Super FLY Life! By Amritha Sakamuri

Hi everyone, my name is Amritha Sakamuri and I am so excited to be a part of TRIP @ WTHS ‘24!! I am a current sophomore at Central Bucks South High School in Warrington, PA. I applied to TRIP because I wanted to further my knowledge in hypothesis-driven research and learn how to better explain the rationale behind my findings. I am hoping to pursue a career in the medical field, and through TRIP I am able to learn about several different career pathways in medicine and gain hands-on research experience.

In school, I am involved in several clubs and activities. I am the president and co-founder of our school’s DECA chapter. Some of my specific tasks are to make sure we are up to date with all of our clearances and research how I can improve my chapter. I am a student representative in our student council, and I was the assistant editor-in-chief of our freshmen paper. Outside of school, I participate in a variety of activities including sports, music, and volunteering. I am a U.S. Figure Skating pre-silver medalist in moves in the field, and I have competed in synchronized skating events for 6 years! I am able to keep in touch with my culture through Carnatic singing. I am a Griffin College of London Level 1 Carnatic vocalist, and I am a youth leader for SEWA International, a nonprofit service organization. 

This past Saturday, we had our first in-lab TRIP session! From just one session I learned how to use a micropipette, calculate solutions and dilutions, make fly food, and learned how to adjust fly food to reflect certain dietary and environmental stressors. For my kickoff experiment, I am testing how Red Clover and high-sugar diets affect female fertility. In the following weeks, I will be testing how the fruit flies react to my four different vials of food (constant, drug only, stressor only, both stressor and drug). We were even able to take home a vial of about 25 fruit flies to observe daily. Best pet ever! I am so excited for what is to come in my TRIP with all of you and to be a part of the TRIP community!

 I am so excited for what is to come in my TRIP with all of you and to be a part of the TRIP community!