TRIP Has Flown Away by Rachel Glantzberg

In just 5 short weeks, I can not believe how much I have grown and learned through the TRIP Initiative. In my first weeks in the lab, I was exhausted by the seemingly endless calculations and fly sorting, but by the end of my time in the lab, I was able to do these tasks with (relative) ease. So many of my lab skills were elevated to the level of an independent researcher and I am very proud of that. I learned that my favorite part of lab work was data analysis. It was often difficult to grapple with data that wasn’t what I expected, but I found it fulfilling to try to determine why trends existed and to try to understand my findings. ​

My project centered around something I am immensely passionate about: veganism. As a vegan of 2+ years, many have had some *interesting* claims about the ways being a developing vegan may harm my health. For my project, I chose to see if there was any merit to one such claim, that being vegan could impact my fertility. To do this, I set up 8 vials consisting of animal-based protein, plant-based protein, and Vitamin B12 – a vitamin critical for fertility that is often deficient in vegans. I found that a plant-based protein diet didn’t have any adverse effects on fertility when examined next to an animal-based protein diet. While Vitamin B12 did slightly improve female fertility for plant-based fly diets, its effects were so minuscule that it would appear plant-based protein diets can support fertility well enough that supplementation isn’t necessary. ​

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Aside from growing as a researcher, TRIP has also given me the resources to grow as a person. I had hands-on opportunities to network with research professionals. I was given the chance to listen to fascinating career talks where I was able to do a lot of introspection as to the professional life I hope to attain. I learned the most from my intelligent, dynamic group of peers who became friends from my TRIP session. I’d like to thank Dr. Leystra, Dr. Purdy, Ms. Pellegrin, Diya Parekh, my mother, my family, and my TRIP peers for making this TRIP possible. I can’t wait to see where this TRIP takes me in the future!