Adios Amigos! A Long Journey Comes to an End by Endy Ascencio-Miranda

Hello Everyone for the last time. I’m Endy Ascencio-Miranda for those who forgot and it has been quite some time since we last saw each other. I’m happy to inform everyone that I have finished my time here at TRIP! These past few weeks have been quite the ride, one that I am beyond thankful to be on. From not knowing what my experiment would be, to attempting to understand the fragility of larvae, and of course running late to work. 

Aligned to spell TRIP

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The bulk of TRIP of course was running through my experiment. Recently I’ve been looking into the color spectrum of noise, something that I didn’t know was a thing. Turns out that I really like Brown noise the most. To me it's the most soothing. So in my experiment I decided to expose this noise to larvae. The reasoning behind this is because these noises make people feel calmer, and work more efficiently. I wanted to see how much Brown noise actually helped. This led me to perform the Larval Memory Assay, where I classically condition larvae to associate a fruit smell (in my case banana) as a reward. I do this by moving larvae between petri dishes filled with agarose gel with different smells (pineapple or banana) to see if they are able to distinguish which smell was the reward. The incentive that is used is sugar. The petri dish with the banana scent is the only dish that has sugar in the gel. We do this because larvae are food motivated, they will do anything they can to find and devour food. 

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There's one thing that will forever stay with me, and that is “Don’t let yourself get in your own way.” Something Dr. Purdy has said to me whenever talking about my experiment. It’s something I needed to hear, especially considering I’ll be going away to college. I must realize that I have the potential to do incredible things, just as long as I don’t self-sabotage or doubt myself. I’m proud of the work I’ve done here at TRIP and that’s something no one can take away from me. Take the risks, face your fears, don’t let anything hold you back. That is what TRIP has taught me. I’m thankful for the progression I’ve made both as a scientist and most importantly as a person.

Don’t let yourself get in your own way