Final Blog by Samhita Ganti

Wow! This TRIP really flew by! The past 12 weeks have been filled with so much emotion, from learning about flies, to using them to conduct my own research experiment. It has been such an exciting experience, watching myself and my lab mates grow in the area of science and experimentation. Being able to perform several assays and research to see the true benefits of this research encourages me for the future, really exciting me for what's to come. 

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Moving back a little, for my independent project, I focused on the effects of high sugar diets and Vitamin E on the pain sensitivity and health of flies. To conduct this, I used the pain tolerance assay and negative geotaxis assay, which I think were very fun to do. For the pain tolerance assay, I placed flies into a small petri dish and then put these into a hot water bath, where I measured how many flies were dead or alive at the end of four minutes. The results I got were so interesting, as I got to see how high sugar diets could truly affect the amount of pain we perceive and that Vitamin E had the ability to mitigate the harm. For my negative geotaxis assay, I placed 10 flies in a vial and measured how many flies were above or below 4 centimeters after 5 seconds. The flies below would be considered as inactive/unhealthy, and the flies above would be more active/healthy. Conducting these assays may seem very easy when you read through the procedure, but trust me, it all comes from practice. I went from dropping my fly vial when I first tried to transfer them, to being able to transfer all 6 of my vials in a matter of minutes. No matter how many challenges I faced, seeing the final result of all my hard work at the final symposium made all of this worth it. Communicating my research from the past five weeks and presenting it to my family, friends, mentors, and peers, was such an amazing experience that I will not forget

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Being part of the TRIP Initiative really pushed me out of my comfort zone, allowing me to learn more about myself as a researcher and scientist. A huge shoutout to Dr. Purdy for always answering all of my questions, Dr. Austria for pushing me when necessary, Dr. Valdes for working patiently with me through my assay, Mr. Cozzone for his amazing humor, and our TA’s Amritha, Phoebe, and Martie for helping me through everything. This TRIP was one of a lifetime, and I am so excited to see what this opportunity will bring for my future experiences. ​

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