A TRIP to Remember Forever by Aidan Gor

Unfortunately, after 11 weeks of some of the best Saturdays of my life, my first hands-on lab experience has come to an end. At the start of this program, I had no idea how to use any equipment, handle fruit flies, or even what concentration meant. However, this program has taught me so much about not only a glimpse of lab work, but also how to intellectually tell and present a story about a problem and its solution.

My independent project tested the effects of common active ingredients in memory supplements on memory disturbed flies through sleep deprivation. Even though my project doesn’t directly relate to neurodiversity, which I am greatly passionate about, I was still able to conduct a project that somewhat related to some of the symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders; and, I was still able to explore a solution to a huge problem that teens face everyday: being successful in school despite sleep loss.

The active ingredients were Huperzine A and Ginkgo Biloba. I simulated sleep deprivation among flies by exposing them to constant light throughout the entirety of their life. I collected developmental data to make sure that there were no major side effects from the two drugs on fertility and development, which I confirmed was true. After one week of exposure to the light and/or drugs, I conducted a larvae memory assay on the larvae of the original adult flies. I used larvae to specifically target adolescents when assessing behavioral effects. The assay consisted of exposing the larvae to a scent in an agar plate without sugar and a scent in an agar plate with sugar. After this training period, I placed the larvae on a testing plate that had each scent on opposite sides. The percentage of larvae that initially traveled towards the scent associated with sugar was the percentage of larvae whose memory was intact.

After coming into the lab early to conduct eight larva memory trials each day (shoutout to Keith, one of the TAs, for helping me out!), I was satisfied and felt fulfilled with my results. From averaging the data, I confirmed that sleep deprivation did in fact decrease memory. I also found that both memory supplements were able to combat the memory disturbance from sleep deprivation; however, combining both drugs had no further increase on memory compared to using a single drug.Overall, I am eager to present my experiment to my fellow TRIP classmates, faculty, and families, as well as to the teachers from my school as well. TRIP has taught me not only about a possible career path, but also to be more intellectually curious, both in and out of the lab. I will take the skills I learned, as well as the relationships I have formed with my teachers, TAs, and classmates, and apply these skills to the rest of my life.