The End to an Amazing TRIP by Saanvi Gupta

I don’t even know where to begin! Twelve weeks ago, I entered the lab with this fervent excitement to start researching and using all the laboratory equipment that I had never had a chance to do before. Although at one point I became annoyed sorting 480 flies every Saturday for four continuous weekends, I oddly miss it (I can’t believe I am saying this right now!). Those weeks flew by, and I cannot explain how much I loved working hands-on alongside the rest of the TRIP members. After starting with a question that had not been addressed by the scientific community, designing an experiment, and collecting the overwhelming amount of data, and finally analyzing the numbers to draw a conclusion, I can confirm that I love research and will continue to pursue it in college and beyond.

Last time, I presented you all with my independent research question: Do Metformin, Maca, and Vitex impact female fertility? Due to the high prevalence of fertility complications in the United States that are present due to a broad range of factors, including age, diabetes, and other health conditions, and problems with ovulation, and the variety of drugs that are available to combat this struggle, my research has high applicability. While there is substantial evidence showing the positive impact of Metformin on female fertility, especially among women with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), Maca and Vitex, both herbal, over-the-counter supplements, have inconclusive impacts on fertility. 

After designing the experiment, the next four weeks were dedicated to continuously run my experiments. I started with three drug stocks for each of my three drugs, which would then be diluted and mixed into each vial’s food in respect to each condition. I had a total of eight vials each week - one control, three with the drugs individually, three with the drugs in pairs, and one with all three drugs. After a seven day period, I would then run the female fertility assay. The goal of this essay is to quantify female fertility in terms of embryos/female. The flies are incubated in a dark box for a set period of time in which they lay their embryo on a grape plate (this is an agar plate with grape juice mixed in to attract the flies). At the end of the time period, the embryos are counted and divided by the total number of females to find an average value of how many embryos each female laid. I repeated this procedure for the next four weeks, creating a new set of 8 vials and performing the fertility assay. Needless to say, I had a tremendous amount of data. 

However, it was not until I started graphing my data that I began to see the trends. Very quickly, I knew that my hypothesis was wrong. I initially thought that fertility would be proportional to the amount of drug in the food - the more drugs, the more increase to female fertility. My data did not support this theory. In fact, I saw that Metformin and Vitex, either in combination or alone, had the largest increase in fly fertility. On the other hand, any combinations including Maca showed a decrease in fertility compared to the control. Additionally, all three drugs taken together did not have much influence on fertility; the results of this condition was extremely similar to that of the control. Therefore, from the results of the experiment, Metformin and Vitex are more promising drugs to take to battle infertility, and more fertility-boosting drugs does not translate to a higher increase in fertility. Although, yet again, my initial hypothesis was incorrect, it made my research even more exciting. Seeing results that I was not expecting and being able to draw conclusions from the data is simply satisfying. 

This program has been one of the most remarkable experiences of my high school career. While, yes, I worked on essential skills that can help me in the lab and academically, such as drug calculations, pipetting, and conducting assays, that was not it. I have grown as a public-speaker that can communicate her experiment and procedure clearly to the audience. I have become better at time management through defining how my limited time each day would be spent each minute prior to even entering the laboratory. Most importantly, I have improved my ability to adapt and quickly change course when something did not go as planned. I could not have reached this destination without the TRIP of the last 12 weeks with my peers, TAs, and Dr. Purdy and Dr. Leystra.