The End... or Is It? by Aadarsh Balaji

​It’s been an amazing twelve weeks in TRIP, and - though it feels like it all just started - I’m already finishing up my independent research project, and rehearsing my final presentation.

My research was about how different fatty acids affect recovery from head trauma, and to perform my experiment, I gave my flies head trauma and then fed them either coconut oil, mustard oil, or no oil at all. To see the effect of the oils on recovery from head trauma, I measured the activity levels (or locomotion levels) of the flies using the negative geotaxis assay - the flies that displayed greater locomotion had better recovery from head trauma than the flies with less locomotion.

Over the past several weeks, I learned many new things, had so much fun, and made so many memories in the TRIP program. I can recall how at the start of the program, sorting flies was something that completely horrified me! It took me nearly two hours to sort flies for my vials - and I’d only had four vials that needed flies! And now, I’m able to sort flies for six vials in under forty-five minutes - which, if you ask me, is a huge improvement.

​I also remember my first time sorting flies on ice. Thinking about it now, I find it hilarious because I was literally petrified. Sorting on ice involves a step where you need to move your flies without anesthetizing them, and I was so scared all my flies would escape and my experiment would be doomed. However, week by week, I improved at sorting on ice until I was no longer afraid.

Finally, I’ve made many new friends during my time in TRIP. We all come from different schools, have different interests, and we all worked on different projects - but the one thing we all have in common is our interest and love for science. That’s what brought all of us to TRIP in the first place! It’s awesome to be able to talk about your thoughts to people who understand you, and it’s equally awesome to listen to the ideas that other people have as well.

​Thanks to the TRIP program, I’ve become even more certain that science is the cause I want to devote my life for. There are just SO many questions that need to be answered, SO many concepts that need to be explained, and SO many things waiting to be discovered. Hopefully - with a bit of luck on my side - I’ll be able to solve some of the mysteries of our universe.