Experiments and Exploration: TRIP Week 2 by Alex Piven

Welcome back to my blog! We are on the third week of TRIP and I feel like I’ve accomplished so much already! I performed my first experiment looking at how intestinal inflammation and Vitamin E affect adult locomotion, and I did this via the negative geotaxis assay which gives a good indication of a fly’s overall health and activity levels. I’ve prepared fly food and learned how to handle, identify, and sort fruit flies by gender by using CO2 gas to knock them out and paint brushes to separate them (images below). This knowledge was useful when I had to sort out flies for my independent project. The experimental question I chose to investigate is how does genetically modified cornstarch vs. non genetically modified cornstarch affect a fruit fly’s gut & overall health. The reason I am interested in investigating this is because of the mixed opinions and research I‘ve read about GMOs. I wanted to understand this debate more clearly for my own health. I want to explore whether consuming GMOs is truly detrimental to one's health. 

We all just started our first day of working on our projects this past Tuesday. On that day I was able to sort all my flies into my four vials, weigh out their food, and make the drug stocks in addition to adding them to the fly food. I also collected developmental data on the flies that I had set up from day 1. I have become more comfortable finding my way around the lab and have enjoyed being able to talk through anything I have questions on with the TAs, Dr. Leystra, and my peers. The career panels online have also been helpful to hear what people who have studied science are doing in the professional world. Overall, it’s been a great few weeks and I’m excited to see what comes next!