Asafoetida -- What a Name! by Surali Panchani

The time has finally come to start our independent projects! I have been looking forward to this day since the beginning of the program! For my project, I will be testing the effects of Asafoetida on female fertility and the glucose metabolism in males. Now you may be wondering, what is Asafoetida? Asafoetida comes from the dried sap extracted from the stem and roots of a plant called ferula. Now you may be wondering, why Asafoetida? Well, something that many people don’t know is that this plant is used in cooking in many Indian households! It is said to have massive benefits for gastrointestinal problems and is also said to be beneficial to people who have diabetes. However, this plant is not good in big amounts during pregnancy. These factors combined intrigued me to learn about the effect of Asafoetida on the overall fertility of flies and to also find out if this plant truly is effective in lowering blood sugar. I wanted to learn more about the ingredient that is used so often in my household!
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These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! We just finished up our initial projects, in which I tested strattera, a drug used to treat ADD/ADHD. Through this process, I learned a lot about what interested me and what I wanted to do for my independent project. We also had our initial presentations which gave me an opportunity to present research that I did, something that was a big learning process! These past few weeks have been some of the best and I have learned so much in a short period of time! I am looking forward to learning more and finding out what the true effects of Asafoetida are! Here’s to the next few weeks, plenty of data, and of course, flies!