Stumbling and TRIPing: A tale of mirth and mistakes by Brandon Ngo

As of today, Sunday, February 2nd, 2026, I have survived 5 entire weeks of TRIP, which have felt like both a lifetime ago because of the routine and a day ago because of the fun. I have learned so much across my journey in TRIP, and it has been more eye-opening than I could have ever imagined. The first month of TRIP revolved around our kickoff experiments, and mine was about head trauma’s impact on sociability and whether ginkgo biloba could have a restorative effect, since it has been studied for cognitive benefits in patients with Alzheimer's, dementia, and schizophrenia. I measured sociability by putting 5 flies of the same gender together and measuring the average distance between them every 5 minutes over 15 minutes total. The lower the average distance, the greater the sociability. My results were very interesting: Relative to the control, ginkgo biloba alone decreased the average inter-fly distance by 10.49%, while head trauma alone increased the average inter-fly distance by 45.96%, but both head trauma and ginkgo biloba decreased the average inter-fly distance by 23.05%. These results far exceeded my expectations for this medicinal plant, and I was very excited to share my results and hear from my peers about their experiments during our presentations in Week 4.

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Beyond the success of my experiment, I perhaps learned more through some of the mishaps I encountered along the way. For example, when measuring out fly food, I accidentally spilled a half-filled weighing boat of dehydrated fly food on the ground, emphasizing to me the value of caution and control in the lab. Luckily, it was a mostly non-hazardous substance, like panko breadcrumbs, but the long-term lesson was more important than the risk, or lack thereof, then. Additionally, funnily enough, when working with many fruit fly vials, I accidentally opened my control vial instead of what I had thought to be an empty vial. So, as I was recording some numbers on a packet, I saw more than a dozen flies from the corner of my eye flutter away before I could close it. While there was not much else to take away from that experience besides the importance of mise en place and caution in the lab, I had a good laugh from it all.

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Most importantly, through conversations and collaborative work with all of my peers and instructors in Session A, I learned so much about my TRIPmates: their passions, hobbies, plans for their independent projects, and what makes them who they are. Everyone I have met has been kind, ambitious, and knowledgeable with fun personalities. While we all fare well on our own, we can work even better at times in groups or pairs. 

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A big takeaway for me was the words of Dr. Glenn Rall, who came in to talk to us during a luncheon on the 7th. His lessons on failure and adapting to new paths resonated with me for the challenges that I have faced and overcome to get to where I am today. Just like Dr. Rall, I cannot see myself any other way than the path I have taken, intentionally or not. 

Given all that I have learned and practiced, I feel confident to step forward with my independent project: studying the potential health impacts of ingested photoactivated titania microparticles on fruit flies at varying concentrations compared to flies exposed to non-photoactivated titania and flies not exposed to any titania. It is a complicated experiment and will likely be one of my greatest challenges yet, but the greatest joy in life for me is to test my limits and see what is possible. Besides, as Dr. Rall taught us, mistakes and setbacks, whether in TRIP, our professional lives, or our personal lives, drive us forward, so I am glad to keep stumbling and TRIPing my way through life.

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