Antioxidants, Blue Light, Cataracts, and Another Wonderful Week at TRIP! by Justin Forbes

In this day and age most, if not all of us, are exposed to computers, phones, tv, and other electronic devices for extended periods of time. There are many recent studies about blue light, or the light that comes from man-made technology, and its effect on our bodies. While blue light has been known to influence circadian rhythms, it has also been shown to have detrimental effects on your eyes; it can damage photoreceptors, increase chances of making people blind when they grow older, and put people at increased risk of some eye diseases such as cataracts, macular degeneration, or dry eyes.

Antioxidants have been shown to be able to protect against free radical damage in cells, and protect them from some types of damage. In my Independent Project I will be looking at which types of antioxidants reduce damage done to the eyes by blue light. In my project I will be exposing adult flies to blue light, but some of the flies will have certain antioxidants in their food. I will have three separate antioxidants, Holy Basil, Selenium, and Vitamin E, and some containers have combinations of two of these antioxidants, and one vial has all three combined. So, while the flies are being exposed to this blue light they will be ingesting antioxidants to hopefully combat the damage. There is one control group that will not be ingesting antioxidants, but will be exposed to the blue light, and there is another control group that will not be eating antioxidants nor will it be exposed to blue light.

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I will then compare the damage done in a new assay I hope to write with Dr. Amanda Purdy. In another established assay, when flies were given the option to feed on normal or red dyed food, no matter which sugar water it was, the majority of the flies went to eat from the red dyed food. Hopefully, we can use this tidbit of information, and when our control group with no exposure tries the same thing the same result will happen. We can then turn it into a percentage for how many flies ate from the red dyed food, and compare it to the flies exposed to blue light. Hopefully the other control group that has been exposed to blue light will not be able to properly see the red colors after exposure because of some eye damage from overexposure, and therefore not eat from the red colored dye like the other control group. Then the flies that have been eating antioxidants will go through the same assay, and we will see if the percentages of flies that went to the red dye is larger or smaller. If it’s larger than the antioxidants did their job, however, if it’s smaller than it seems that the blue light did some decent damage. 

Everything has been wonderful these past few weeks at TRIP! We showcased presentations a week ago, and it was a great learning experience for me, even though I was definitely more than a bit nervous… Though I got through it, thankfully, and everybody provided nice comments and helpful feedback on how I could have improved my presentation. I definitely learned a lot, and hopefully my presentation at the symposium won’t be too terrible…

Also, I can sometimes be slower than people when doing projects, and I try my best to try and keep up with everybody while not lowering the focus and precision I use when doing the projects. However, one day, I happened to go over the time allotted, and I needed to put the drugs in the fly food, and then put in the flies. Yet, there were lots of people who stayed as long as they could to help me finish up, and with the help of everybody I was able to finish my work that day even though I still went over the time. ​

​​I am so thankful for the supportive atmosphere here at TRIP, and the way everybody here is willing to help me find routes to overcome my failures.