What a TRIP! by Nihitha Vallabhaneni

    Well, when I said time was flying by, I definitely was not kidding. I remember vividly how slow the four hours went by on my first session in the lab. Now, four hours itself is going by so fast that I am losing track of time. I can’t believe TRIP is coming to an end! It felt like just yesterday when we were all coming to the lab and learning so many new techniques. ​
  
​ It’s been quite a while since you last heard from me, so let me catch you up. These past few weeks, I began my independent research project! I was debating on what I wanted to study for quite some time, but I finally decided to test the effects that different doses of iron have on memory and cognitive functionality! Unlike humans who have red blood cells, fruit flies have hemolymph. Iron is known to increase blood flow in humans which is supposed to increase cognitive development and attention. But, since fruit flies do not have blood, I was interested in investigating the direct effects that iron has on the brains of fruit flies, particularly larvae, through testing memory. For my project, I gave fruit flies three different doses of iron (1, 2, and 10 pills) to test how the different doses affect the memory of the larvae (early wormlike stage of fruit flies).

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 I was interested in investigating the direct effects that iron has on the brains of fruit flies, particularly larvae, through testing memory.

After weeks of research and analyzing data, I got results! And… the results that I got correlated with my hypothesis! Although my data showed that there was not much difference between the different doses of iron, as I increased the iron dosage up to 2 pills, memory did increase, and when I raised the dosage to 10 pills, memory began to decrease. Even though my results correlated with my hypothesis, the percentage of flies that had intact memory for all three experimental conditions was quite similar. Thus, it’ll take more testing with greater doses to find out if iron actually does affect memory and cognitive functionality.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the TRIP lab. I was able to learn an immense amount of lab skills, new research techniques, and scientific presentation skills that I would not have learned in school. Furthermore, considering the amount of hours I spent in the lab each day (about 5 hours and sometimes even more) just to complete my project, I came out of this incredible experience with a much greater appreciation for all the efforts and time that researchers put into combating diseases and finding new treatments. ​

I’m grateful for hearing about TRIP because it has opened my eyes to a world beyond just experiments in a high school lab

I’m grateful for hearing about TRIP because it has opened my eyes to a world beyond just experiments in a high school lab. From stepping into the lab on the first day, I embarked on an amazing journey now leading me up to preparing for my Final Symposium presentation. I look forward to sharing the research I have conducted these past few weeks to a network of TRIP students, teachers, and alumni. Apart from science, through TRIP, I was able to network with many new people, create some great friendships, and work with phenomenal mentors who I hope to keep in touch with. I am thankful to be a part of the TRIP program and community, and hope to continue doing research in the future.