‘Tis Not the Ending but A Beginning by Abigail Yost

Wow, I made it! I can’t believe it, TRIP is coming to a close and I must say there has been a crazy lot of things going on! My independent project has drawn to a close and I received awesome… and interesting results.

​For my project I decided to test the effect of Duloxetine (more commonly known as Cymbalta) on mood and larval memory. Duloxetine is an antidepressant, so I figured it would slow down brain activity in flies. Doing this project made me look at two completely different stages of the fruit fly life cycle: larvae and adults. I really liked doing this, even though it sometimes brought crazy, eventful classes. My assays (particularly larval memory) required a lot of time… however, I liked the area of focus. I thought social space was much easier: trap flies in a tight space and take pictures every 5 minutes. No big deal! It was an awesome feeling to analyze my own results. I came to the conclusion that Duloxetine does in fact negatively impact mood and larval memory.

As TRIP draws to a close, I find myself reflecting back on the course. Honestly, I think it’s hilarious how I went from not knowing how to use a pipette to being able to conduct experiments all on my own. The course itself was very self-rewarding, but you have to be willing to put the work in for those rewards. I must say that TRIP has contributed to helping me look at science in a new way, and I can’t wait to conduct more of my own experiments in the future. I will miss everyone who participated in TRIP and the course itself… but let’s be honest, I am happy to be able to have my Saturdays back!