Blog Post #1 - Road to Reseach
- Neha Barani
- Dec 1, 2023
- 2 min read
Why this topic?
When I was first starting off with my research, I knew I wanted to work with drosophila because it was a model organism which I worked with before and I am deeply interested in looking into neurological topics. First, I had to find out which model organism I wanted to work with. Since I knew that I wanted to conduct my research on seizures, I was able to narrow it down to certain organisms. There are several model organisms which I found are used in order to conduct research regarding seizures such as flies, mice, and C-elegans. I decided to conduct my research on fruit flies because of how easy it is to measure their seizure rates and to breed the flies so that I could get a larger quantity of data. In order to conduct my guiding research, I first had to find what was the reason for why this drosophila had frequent seizures. I found that a certain strain of flies known as the Julius Seizure BS fruit flies were a model organism which are commonly used in several different types of BS-1 research.
To further my research, I had to look into what my gap would be. I found that guava is a plant which is commonly used in small villages to treat epileptic seizures. I was able to find how the most antiepileptic properties in guava are found in the leaves of the plant. This is what led me to decide that guava leaf extract would be a good experimental variable to test on the flies. I also had to make sure that the flies would uptake this extract if it was fed to them. This means I still have to look into whether the flies would uptake and water based extract which is mainly what guava extract is sold as when it is mixed with their media. I also still have to research more about the ratio of guava extract to how much media I’m using to feed the flies because too little of the extract might not carry an effect and too much of the extract might lead to the flies not up-taking the media or something similar.
I was able to construct my methods with help from my mentor and peers who are doing or have done similar projects to me. After careful revision and presenting my elevaor pitch, I was able to gain feedback and finalize the process of conducting my project and therefore got approved to start presenting.
For more specific information regarding my research I have linked my research proposal which goes over background information and my methods for this project.
All sources are cited within the research proposal.
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