Scientifically Equipped - My Time in TRIP by Mia Downs

​From start to finish, TRIP is rigorous, academic, motivating, and incredible. In just 13 weeks, I went from being apprehensive over the thought of working so closely with fruit flies to now having spent countless hours designing, implementing, and analyzing my own research question. I wanted to come up with an independent project that many people could relate to – we all have cell phones, and we all sleep.

​Figuring out if our cell phones, through the blue light they emit or the yellow light in night mode, can impact our sleep and circadian rhythms seemed like a great project to fit my curiosity. Our cell phones are always in our reach (especially for teens), and our demanding schedules limit our sleep. We all want to wake up and feel rested to take on the day’s challenges, but our phones may be interfering with our ability to achieve restful sleep.

In my experiment, I performed the negative geotaxis assay on my flies after they were exposed to blue and yellow light for a full week. What did I find? I found that fruit flies’ activity levels are in fact impacted by blue light and yellow light. Both male and female flies showed the greatest reduction in activity levels in blue light followed by measurable decreased activity levels with yellow light. In addition, through the use of the social space assay, I found that both blue and yellow light slightly affect the flies’ sociability (measured through the distances they kept from one another). 

So, yes, I now have some insight as to how to achieve better sleep (aside from going to bed earlier which I find impossible to do), but I have also found great, long-lasting rewards from my time in TRIP. I worked with amazing instructors whose dedication and sincere interest in all of the students was beyond impressive, and I met new friends who helped me through the process. We all faced challenges in our projects and assignments and learned a lot navigating through them. Guest speakers introduced me to careers in science and increased my interest in scientific research. I started the program with zero lab experience, and now, I can maneuver through a lab with added confidence. Definitely, without a doubt, a TRIP worth taking!