Flying Through to My Independent Project by Danny Nguyen

Hi everyone! It’s been around six weeks since my first day at the TRIP lab, and it’s been going great. Over these weeks, I was able to get out of my comfort zone and really hone in on my wet lab skills. I enjoy micropipetting and making solutions because it’s satisfying to use the equipment and make actual things to use. Although I have a disdain for insects, I’m beginning to find joy in sorting flies and performing assays and experiments on them. For my kickoff experiment on testing how fenugreek and sugar affect fly motility, I had the opportunity to perform the negative geotaxis assay to assess fly activity. In this project, I was able to sort flies, knock them out, and learn how to better handle fruit flies. After performing experiments, I was able to conclude that sugar actually does have positive effects on fly motility in short durations of time, something I never expected would happen. Overall, I had a great time doing my kickoff experiments, as I learned great things about science, but I was also able to develop strong skills in research.

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