The End of an Amazing TRIP! by Matthew Uppani

Hi friends! It is hard to believe that TRIP is over. Ten weeks seemed like a lot when we first started, but now we are at the close of the program with the final presentation happening next Saturday. I have learned so much in the lab and thoroughly enjoyed the experiments with fruit flies as I knew exactly what I wanted to do each day. Thanks to Dr. Purdy, Dr. Leystra, and the TAs, I was able to perform my tasks efficiently with the help of the weekly experimental plans.

For my project, I chose to investigate whether fenugreek can counteract the detrimental effects of atorvastatin on blood sugar. The inspiration for this project came to me from an incident in my family. My dad started taking atorvastatin a couple of years ago to lower his cholesterol and noticed an increase in his blood sugar levels. So, I was curious to see if his elevated glucose level had anything to do with atorvastatin or just a coincidence. As high blood sugar can lead to diabetes, I was looking for an easy and healthy option to reduce blood sugar without using medications. My research indicated that fenugreek, a herb/spice used in Asian cooking, has the potential to lower glucose, and I decided to test these conditions on fruit flies.

I set up two control groups and three experimental conditions (atorvastatin only, fenugreek only, both atorvastatin and fenugreek), and flies were fed for 7 days. On the seventh day, glucose level in flies’ blood was measured using Glucose Metabolism Assay. The flies were crushed, and their hemolymph was extracted. As part of the Glucose Metabolism Assay, the hemolymph went through a series of enzymatic reactions resulting in a pink color solution. Then, the color absorbance was measured using a spectrophotometer. This was interesting, but it was a lengthy process that took more than four hours to complete. As expected, atorvastatin increased the blood sugar in flies by 10%. The results were encouraging that fenugreek counteracted atorvastatin’s detrimental effects on glucose level by reducing the blood sugar by 26%.

​I have gained a greater appreciation of the scientific research involved in developing medicines and new treatments. I am tremendously grateful for this opportunity for research, and I am looking forward to applying the skills I learned in my future endeavors. Thank you, TRIP, for allowing me to dive deeper into the world of research! This may be the end of an exciting TRIP, but it is the beginning of the next trip.

This may be the end of an exciting TRIP, but it is the beginning of the next trip.