TRIP INITIATIVE
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Donate
    • FAQ
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • ALUMNI GALLERY
    • Ursinus 2015
    • Temple 2015
    • WTHS 2016
    • Temple 2016
    • WTHS 2017
    • Temple 2017
    • WTHS 2018
    • Temple 2018
    • WTHS 2019
    • Temple 2019
    • WTHS 2020
    • WTHS 2021
    • Temple 2021
    • WTHS 2022
    • Temple 2022
  • Apply to TRIP

Regular updates from students in TRIP

How Time Flies by Mason Matich

6/23/2021

0 Comments

 
Every Saturday was an exciting challenge that I couldn’t help but look forward to.
Picture
Picture
I can’t believe TRIP is almost over! It feels like I just started working in the lab, not 11 weeks later! Where did the time go? Probably into my project, which actually ended up going very well! My project was testing how lead poisoning impacted the gut microbiome. For those who don’t know, the gut microbiome is the bacteria that live inside your gut. It plays an important role in how metabolic/inflammatory diseases, cancer, and even depression develop in the body. Lead, as many know, is toxic to the human body. It can cause anemia, weakness, kidney damage, and brain damage. Its impact on the gut microbiome though isn’t known, which is why I chose this as my project.
The second part of my project was testing to see if vitamin C and/or iron could restore the gut microbiome in lead-poisoned flies. Iron and lead share the same blood transporter, meaning if there is more iron in the body, less lead will be absorbed. Vitamin C increases the amount of iron that is absorbed. The idea is that by combining them, the best protection against lead can be achieved. In this project, I also wanted to demonstrate a potential cure for lead on top of showing the impact it has. My hypothesis was that lead would negatively impact gut microbiome health, and that vitamin C and iron would help restore it.
Picture
In order to test this, I needed to create eight experimental groups. One was a control with no drug, one was with just iron, one was with vitamin C, one was with both iron and vitamin C. The remaining four vials followed the same pattern just with lead added in all. Each group was incubated for a week and then tested using the microbiome assay. The microbiome assay actually got much easier over time, and I luckily didn’t lose any more flies while doing it, which is a major win for data integrity. I did have to scale back my project from testing successive generations of flies to just testing the flies I put in the vials, but this ended up not being a huge issue since that was more of a secondary question. Overall, I’m incredibly proud of how my project turned out!
Picture
Picture
It is hard to put into words how much I’ve enjoyed TRIP! Every Saturday was an exciting challenge that I couldn’t help but look forward to. I had some experience with science before TRIP, but I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time. I learned advanced assays, problem-solving (where every second counts when the flies are starting to wake up), science communication, and most importantly, time management. I’ve been able to meet some truly amazing people through TRIP, all from incredibly diverse backgrounds, and I can’t thank Dr. Purdy and Dr. Leystra enough for their amazing mentorship. Sure, it was stressful at times, but to be honest anything worth doing is. Overall, TRIP was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to see everyone at the symposium!
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Blog 1: Introductions!
    Blog 2: Planning An Independent Project
    Blog 3: Reflections

Company

About
Fox Chase Cancer Center

Support

Contact
​Menu
WEBSITE DESIGN INFORMATION:
The TRIP Initiative website was built by Alesandra (Sasha) Temerte (TRIP@TU'17 alum) ​ and Charity Robbins (TRIP@TU'22) and is not a product of Fox Chase Cancer Center
© COPYRIGHT 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
WEBSITE DESIGN BY ALESANDRA SASHA TEMERTE & CHARITY ROBBINS
LOGO DESIGN BY ARNAV DHINGRA
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Donate
    • FAQ
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • ALUMNI GALLERY
    • Ursinus 2015
    • Temple 2015
    • WTHS 2016
    • Temple 2016
    • WTHS 2017
    • Temple 2017
    • WTHS 2018
    • Temple 2018
    • WTHS 2019
    • Temple 2019
    • WTHS 2020
    • WTHS 2021
    • Temple 2021
    • WTHS 2022
    • Temple 2022
  • Apply to TRIP