An End To This TRIP by Tanzeela Rafe

Hi there, thanks for following along my journey with TRIP these past 3 months! I’m sad to say that my time in the TRIP lab has ended, but there is so much I learned throughout this experience that I get to carry on to college and beyond! Through the weeks, I sorted flies, created fly food, and ran my assays- and I truly enjoyed all the aspects of it. We just wrapped up our final symposiums this past weekend, and it was rewarding to be able to share my research with my family, friends and fellow peers and to see the amazing work my labmates did! 

Since the last time I updated you all on my experiment, there have been quite the changes and challenges. I had previously mentioned that I was testing the effects of intermittent fasting and Benadryl on memory, but had to quickly change my plan after some hurdles with running my assay. I continued on the path of testing intermittent fasting and Benadryl, but switched over to looking at activity levels and fertility! I ran the Negative Geotaxis Assay, and collected data on percent eclosion and found that although fasting did decrease energy, it had a positive effect on the fertility of the fasted adults! Reflecting on this, I am grateful to have experienced the hurdles with my experiment. It not only allowed me to fully understand that setbacks are a normal part of working in research, but to experience the rewarding feeling of tackling the setbacks!

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Looking back, I am truly going to miss my early Saturday mornings in the lab working with the fruit flies! I am incredibly thankful for the experience I had and the wonderful instructors, Dr. Leystra, Dr. Purdy, Dr. Valdes and Mr. Cozzone, along with the awesome TA’s Anoosha and Niki. I am so grateful to have had the chance to work with like-minded individuals and make amazing friends along the way! The experience I gained with designing and conducting an experiment that truly interested me is incredibly valuable; thank you to William Tennent High School and Fox Chase Cancer Center for this opportunity. Lastly, a huge thank you to you, the reader, for following along my journey these past weeks, I can’t wait for the next trip I’ll take!