LTD (Luke’s TRIP Diaries) Entry 2 by Luke Jang

Hey everyone! The first few weeks of TRIP have really flown by. I can’t believe that it’s already been five weeks since the program first kicked off. A lot of the time I’ve spent in TRIP during the last 5 weeks has been dedicated to my kickoff experiment, where I studied how Valerian and a disrupted circadian rhythm affect fly anxiety. To do this, I used the centrophobism assay. I placed flies in petri dishes and observed their movement patterns in and across the center of their chambers. I presented my experiment and different tips and tricks for the assay in our kickoff experiment presentations, which were a great experience all around. 

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Watching my peers present their kickoff experiments inspired me to form my own ideas for my independent project. I’ve always been interested in the brain, which is why I chose to study anxiety for my kickoff experiment. When I saw that some of my peers used head trauma as a stressor, my interest was immediately piqued – I’ve had friends go through TBI and seen some of my favorite athletes suffer from CTE. So, for my independent project, I decided to look into the effects of head trauma and omega-3 fatty acids on fly memory. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have a positive effect versus cognitive decline – I wonder if it’ll be able to alleviate further negative effects like the one head trauma has on memory? After discussing with my fellow TRIP students, Dr. Austria and Dr. Valdes, my project is officially ready to go. I can’t wait to get started next week!

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