The single most intriguing part of this class was that we performed new experiments throughout the entire quarter that had never been done before. We did not do any "kit biology" or perform things where we knew the results, instead performing a class-wide genetic screen on mutagenized fruit flies and then using what we learned to develop small group experiments. This was certainly the best class I have taken on complete experiment design, having to do everything from start to finish, and the enitre class was full of motivated individuals looking to make discoveries with the short quarter that we had. I only wish there was more time to pursue our projects further, and I know the work that I was able to do will be helpful to look back on for experience in my future career.
When the last two weeks of the Winter 2020 quarter were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we had to replace our final presentations with an extended write-up of our small group work. Below is the complete summary of our project, results, and what our future aims would be in an extended research setting.
Ad Hoc Honors
As part of the requirements in pursuing biology departmental honors, I completed this course as an "ad hoc" honors course, meaning there was an additional project completed to give it an honors designation. Prof. Parrish and I agreed on a project in which I would design a workflow and then follow said workflow to modify fruit fly strains with a transgenic marker: essentially a beacon in their genetic code that lets them be further genetically modified much more easily whenever needed. My apporach used the famed CRISPR-Cas9 machinery, and I spent the quarter researching and compiling sequences to make the CRISPR-Cas9 insert the marker into the yellow gene of the flies, allowing modification to be easily seen. I got most of the way through creating the necessary plasmids by the end of the quarter, and my work could be easily continued and finished if ever needed in Prof. Parrish's lab.
I found it exciting and elucidating to work in a brand new lab with different protocols, working on something I had not previously worked on and with a model organism I was similarly unfamiliar with. A lot of my efforts made me realize that I am well-prepared to work in any molecular lab environment, and that I can adapt to any changes from lab to lab that I might encounter.