Failing… with style by Bridget Armstrong

We’re almost halfway through the program and I can’t believe it. The past 6 weeks have really opened my eyes to life in the lab. I have learned so much about how the lab works and what it’s like to work independently and design my own experiments. Though these are important to gain an understanding in, the most important thing that I’ve learned in my time with TRIP so far is how to fail. 

Though I managed to work around my first experiment’s disasters, my failures didn’t stop there. The next challenge that I faced was picking an independent experiment. When I came up with my first proposal, I did not expect to have to scrap the entire idea and start again... Nor did I expect it the second time. Though, working through the errors in my plans with my peers and Dr. Purdy has helped me understand that an experiment takes a lot of planning and every wrinkle has to be ironed out before it can be considered. This means a lot of questions have to be raised, a lot of ideas have to be changed, and a lot of criticism has to be taken. I didn’t realize the importance of collaboration with others when designing an experiment until these failures. Now, as I prepare to propose my third idea to the TRIP team, I’m ready to pick apart my experiment and make it testable. I’m excited to communicate my ideas, question them, and adapt my experiment. I’m excited to fail and try again.​

For my very first experiment, all of my flies died before I could even conclude anything. With presentations on the data due the next week, I had no time to restart. At first, I thought that meant all the work that I had put into the experiment so far was for nothing. Though, I realized that the most valuable things that I could get out of it was learning how to utilize laboratory equipment, developing techniques and assays, and learning how to manage my time in the lab. This helped me understand that there’s always something to learn from an experiment, even a failed one.

This means a lot of questions have to be raised, a lot of ideas have to be changed, and a lot of criticism has to be taken.

Post-proposal: My idea is testable! Here’s what I proposed.
​For my experiment, I’d like to test if there is a diet that can help reduce stress in those with autism spectrum disorders. I have two siblings with autism, and I’ve noticed that the parent community tends to create diets for kids like them that take away something. There are diets that take away gluten, dairy, and added sugars, but I have not seen a diet where something is added. I’d like to see if the antioxidants, or flavonoids, in dark chocolate can help reduce stress hormones and help those with autism spectrum disorders regulate their behavior. 

The big question is, how do I test this with flies? Since I can’t create autism in flies, I decided that I would alter their hormones to create high stress levels. I’m utilizing the drug Prednisone to raise the stress hormones in flies to create my stressed group. I’m going to be using cocoa powder to hopefully lower these stress levels. I will have a group of flies with Prednisone, a group with cocoa powder, a group with both, and a control group. I plan to test the levels of stress in the flies with the centrophobism assay and the social space assay. These assays will give me an insight to whether or not the cocoa powder reduced how stressed the flies were after their stress levels were raised.
​I’m ready to set up my experiment and get to work! I know there will be a lot of failures up ahead, and I’m more than prepared to deal with them. Thanks for reading!