The End of a Great TRIP by Keith Thompson

Hello again! Sadly to say, this will be my last blog post. These 11 weeks passed by unbelievably quickly, and it is hard to believe we are already two weeks out of the lab; I still feel like every Saturday I should be scrambling to complete all my tasks and these past two Saturdays haven’t felt the same without it. I miss seeing all of my TRIP mates each week, but it is exciting to be reaching the culmination of all my scrambling and research.

To refresh you from my last post, I was interested in the effects of quercetin, a flavonol found in apples, on the memory in developing brains. I decided to experiment with this particular flavonol because I eat an apple every single day, so I wanted to see how they were affecting me. In my research, I found that quercetin may relieve the effects of Alzheimer’s in rats. Since I can’t give flies Alzheimer’s, I was interested in finding out if quercetin could improve memory in developing brains, which I used larvae to replicate.

To answer this question, I used an assay named Larval Memory Assay. I trained larvae to associate a banana scent with sugar and a pineapple scent with no reward, and then observed how many were attracted to the banana scent over the pineapple scent when no sugar was present. Those that chose banana over pineapple were distinguished as those with intact memory. From my results, I found that adding the amount of quercetin in one apple each day has little effect on improving memory, however, adding the equivalent of 40 apples a day does significantly improve memory. So, I guess the saying should really be “40 apples a day keeps the doctor away”. 

From my results, I found that adding the amount of quercetin in one apple each day has little effect on improving memory, however, adding the equivalent of 40 apples a day does significantly improve memory.

Besides teaching me that I need to eat more apples, TRIP has given me incredibly valuable lab experience. I learned how to get more information from flies than I ever would have thought possible, and I learned how to do it on my own. Even though I could still barely finish my tasks in time at the end of the program, TRIP taught me how important and how necessary it is to be proactive and efficient. And of course, TRIP also brought me together with some amazing people, and I am so grateful for all the times they helped me when I could barely finish in time. I couldn’t forget to thank Dr. Leystra and Dr. Purdy for all the tips and help they’ve given me throughout the program as well. I’m sad that TRIP is over, but I am extremely grateful for the people I’ve met and all that it has taught me.