Project Journal

5/23/16

1 hour

We had a meeting about how we were going to control the flies age. It seems like we decided that we are going to single out the day that a larger number of flies hatched. This data we recorded when we tested larval production rates. I don’t have that figure but Don does and he will look over it and get back to us.

5/24/16

2 hours

Today I went alone to the lab and created new media for the test batch of flies. I also counted which flies were stuck to the media in different vials. I made and tested a sleep apparatus. Using a small vial I inserted a single fly into the vial. I then took the vial and placed it in front of a piece of paper and with a camera on the back side used a flashlight to create an image of the vial and the fly on the paper. I then recorded with the camera and hopefully we will be able to generate software that will convert the vial into the matrix and then we can subtract the light from the dark and that should tell us how often the fly moves.

5/26/16

2 hours

We went over some experimental design errors. We also collected the data of our fly emergence rate. We learned how to use image j.

5/27/16

2 hours

We went over research papers that we had found for the previous week. We then made new media for all of the treatment groups and officially concluded our test trial experiment. We took pictures of all of the current flies and this week we will begin to count them using image J.

5/30/16

3 Hours

We resolved some problems that were occurring with the excel sheet. There was also a huge problem with the incubator. It was making a very strange sound and we resolved that. The flies in the new Medias died. We are still not sure why but they are almost all dead. We don’t know what we are going to do about it besides reduce the time that the flies are in the freezer for sedation. We also began to starve a handful of the flies so that we can test aggression tomorrow.

6/1/16

2 Hours

We set up the aggression test and prepped the flies. We looked online for better ideas on how to do it. Using the sacrament cup we burned four holes into the cup and placed a female head inside of the cup as to release hormones into the atmosphere where the two males are at. We then placed a cup over top of the two males. We waited but they never did fight. That was kind of a letdown. But we did more research and decided we were only going to separate the flies instead of starve them.

6/3/16

2 Hours

We went over the research articles we had each looked up the previous week. I found one on how glycogen and triglycerides differently affect how flies sleep. Females have larger triglyceride receptors and those help them power down quicker. The former is true with males. So we ran into another problem of what is in our media solution that may contain a higher number of either of these substances and how could that skew our numbers.

6/7/16

4 Hours

Don explained about his idea of how to record the flies sleeping patterns. He found some relatively cheap cameras online and he wants to set up like a 3D type of simulation. We are going to put one camera directly over the fly and then one the side that will give us a x, y, and z grid system so we can be more accurate in measuring the flies. The problem we ran into was that it is going to be a lot of data to store and a lot and I mean a lot of hours of watching videos of flies. After we had finished as a group I went and continued research on what I could do to solve our problems. Using image J I figured out a way to crop pictures together and create a collage like video that would reduce the time we had to look at each fly. Then I found a free computer software that allows one to manipulate a camera device. I haven’t completely figured it out but it looks promising.

6/8/16

3 Hours

I explained to my partners everything I had found about I spy and about image J. We then found out that we could reduce the frames per second on the cameras and also to where it only starts recording when there is movement. We can change the frequency of movement that is required to trigger the recording. We than adjusted our shopping list. This breakthrough will help us so much. It will save us hundreds of hours.

6/14/16

2 Hours

We ran into another problem. We learned that the methylation tests are going to be a lot more expensive than we thought. So now we are scrambling to get funding. We are going into the edge center to see what they can do to help us. If not were going to have to chip in our own money. We revised the shopping list and looked at what we can cut.

6/21/16

2 Hours

We went in and talked to Dr. Govedich about our project. We were trying to get a little more funding and we went over all of our options to see what we could do. We weren’t able to get much going so the only hope we have is the post scholarship from the edge center to reimburse us. We also talked about some experimental errors we were going to try to avoid.

6/22/16

2 Hours

We learned that our scholarship money that we previously attained does not go away after July first which was what we had originally thought. So that bought us more precious time. We discussed how we were going to handle all of this when the experiment started. We went over how the aggression experiment was and it was a total success.

6/23/16

2 Hours

We decided to start another test trial and retest all of the medias plus medias with ground up corn meal so it is more fine. We continued to discuss the aggression experiment. We also assigned ourselves specific experiments to get a game plan of how we are going to do them step by step. I am assigned the sleep experiment so I hope the cameras arrive relatively quickly so I can start fiddling with them.

6/24/16

6 Hours

I made a step by step process on how we are going to do the sleep experiment. We also made media for 55 vials. It took an extremely long time to combine all the ingredients and cook everything according to specs. But we got it done and it also took us about a half an hour to clean everything up.

6/25/16

4.5 Hours

We randomized the fly inputs and sorted out 5 random male and female flies into each of the 55 vials. It took us a long time because we had to freeze each vial then separate them while they were sleeping before they woke up. It was basically a fight against time so we could only do one fly vial at a time. So we had to wait 8 minutes for each vial and there were quite a bit of them.

6/29/16

3 Hours

We went over finances and figured out a plan to be able to make up the 600 dollars that we are short on. We decided to go and present to a few families that could donate to us. We also went over the sleep test and our methods on doing it.

7/6/16

2 Hours

We figured out that the reproduction part of the experiment will be a lot more difficult than we originally had thought. We are debating whether to even do the sleep and aggressive tests.

7/12/16

3 Hours

I went in and Don showed me how to control the populations.

7/13/16

2.5 Hours

I went in by myself and separated the flies from the cacoons.

7/14/16

2.5 Hours

I went in again to continue the separation of male and female flies.

7/15/16

2.5 Hours

Same thing happened. I will be doing this same process once a day for several weeks.

7/16/16

2.5 Hours

I went in early than usual to continue the experiment. I taught Jesse how to do it.

7/17/16

1 Hour

I did the experiment in record time today. Only took me one hour and I did not lose a single fly. I feel quite accomplished.

7/18/16

1 Hour

It’s getting quicker to change out all of the flies. The reproduction curve is slowing and we are ending the first generation of the reproduction.

7/19/16

1 Hour

Only had to change one fly out. Finished two other of the vials.

7/20/16

1 Hour

Only two more vials to go. Only had one fly again.

7/28/16

1 Hour

We called Dr. Mauger and it turns out all that stuff we did with separating the flies wasn’t really necessary. She said that it would be best if we did have inbreeding because then the flies would mutate on the same levels. It’s genius now that I think about it and it will definitely save us some time.

7/29/16

2 Hours

We got the shipment of the monoculture a few days ago and they were starting to grow numerous. We separated the F1 generation out and made new media.

8/6/16

4 Hours

We had a meeting about what we are going to do with the monoculture. We dissolved the medias in a brown sugar solution

8/14/16

4 Hours

We had a meeting with Laurie and got a few calendar items. We planned when we would get our grant applications submitted. We also planned on when we would go to the convention where we would present our papers. We decided at the same time while we are up there to do the DNA Methylation tests. USU has the equipment we need to do it, because SUU does not have what we need. We also cleaned up the lab because school will be starting soon and other people need to use the lab as well.

8/26/16

2 Hours

Jesse and I organized all of our raw data into tables so that we could plug them into graphs and data calculators. We only recorded the F0 Generation so we didn’t have to do the Parent generation or anything.

8/29/16

6 Hours

We met with Laurie again, and apparently the DNA Methylation kit was lost so that means we are out 2000 dollars. We are going over our options to what we can do to get more cash to order another Methylation kit. We also created media for the monoculture that has been reproducing for the past while.

9/4/16

3 Hours

We swapped out the flies’ media again, and again it took us forever.

9/10/16

2 Hours

We were trying to make new media so that we could start the F0 Generation but had some hiccups. We ended up just documenting all of the genealogy of the fruit flies. We than labeled all the new vials and started making the little .5 milliliter vials which is quite difficult because they are really tiny in actuality. But on a good note, we talked to Laurie and it turned out we didn’t have to make 90 vials like we thought, it was only thirty vials. That saved us a lot of media which translates into money for us.

9/15/16

1 Hour

I came in and extracted the flies from the vials and recorded the data.

9/19/16

3 Hours

We had another problem. There are not enough flies to be able to start the experiment so we just talked about what we can do for an extremely long time.

9/23/16

3 Hours

In the morning I came in and did my routine checks of the flies. Then we all came in the afternoon and were about to make new media but we discussed options of what we were going to do to because we didn’t have enough flies accumulated from the control vials to be able to make a monoculture. So we decided to go out another generation and try and grow some more.

9/24/16

5 Hours

We cleaned out the most disgusting, old, neglected incubator ever. We washed it out with soapy water, then with De-ionized water, then with a solvent. Then we used a solution of water and quaternary ammonium to clean the spores out and finally we went over it with ethanol alcohol. It took an extremely long time and the quaternary ammonium was a pretty harmful substance. I was in full hazmat suit when I started. Then Jaron and I went up and transferred all of the flies in our control groups into 10 new vials with 4 male and 4 female ratios. The amazing part is we froze them all at the same time and divided them out in groundbreaking time.

9/25/16

3 Hours

I did my usual routine. I checked all the flies and everything went smoothly. We are almost done with the labor part of the project.

9/28/16

3 Hours

I came to finish up some separation of the flies. I cleaned out the old vials as well.

10/3/16

2 Hours

We finished the project. We had a meeting to discuss what the plan is for finishing it up and getting it presented.

10/7/16

2 Hours

I went in to Dr. Weingartners and got some data figured out for a statistical analysis of our project. We have to come through the data and get it all worked out.

10/10/16

3 Hours

I went through all the data Don assigned me. I organized it so we could use it in some statistical software that Dr. Weingartner has.

10/17/16

3 Hours

We put the project together with the poster and all. We are just waiting now to present the project in the festival of excellence.

4/28/17

2 Hours

We presented the research in the festival of excellence. I came and took pictures and what not to document the process.