Week ???? at TRIP by Ryan Parsaee

​Hey everyone! I think it’s been a couple weeks since my last update so I have a lot to tell you! Firstly, I have been having so much fun at the lab, it's like no other really. I have really learned a lot about what it is like to have a career in the laboratory, and it is very engaging! Another unique aspect of this experience has been watching the flies grow in real time and watching your data as it changes, so cool. 

​

I am finishing up my kick-off experiments, which, if you do not remember, focused on the effects of Ginkgo Biloba as a medicinal tool to treat brain damage. To do this, I treated the flies to a negative geotaxis assay, which generally measured their brain activity, as well as taking developmental data. Surprisingly, Ginkgo Biloba is an excellent brain healing tool!

In terms of my independent project, I am interested in the effects of a relatively new drug. Kratom. It is an opioid adjacent substance whose research is very limited. From what we know, it acts as a stimulant at low doses and as a inhibitor at high doses, it also demonstrates the common pitfalls of opioids, its addictive nature, contribution to liver failure, and permanent neurological damage. I believe that researching Kratom on flies can provide a translational red flag for more research that can hopefully build into conclusive data regarding higher order animals such as primates or humans. ​