This summer, I received a portion of the Herbert Maule Richards and Donald and Nancy Ritchie Grants in order to work on and start my senior research thesis, which I will continue with at the Pischedda Lab until I present it next Spring. At the Pischedda Lab, we focus our research on sexual selection and conflict using fruit flies as a model organism. We study a range of topics from male mate choice to mating duration. For my senior thesis, I will be investigating the mechanisms and result of mating between different Drosophila lines that are cultured in the lab. In the next few weeks, I have been aiming to gain a greater conceptual and intellectual understanding of my project, as well as the experimental design involved. By the end of the summer, I want to have produced an annotated bibliography. I also plan to learn how to analyze and process data from these upcoming experiments.
In order to complete this, I will be completing literature reviews, reading papers that help me with my background understanding of the project, such as a paper about the origin of the specific Drosophila lines that I am studying, as well as other studies done similar mating situations. I also aim to familiarize myself with the programs used for data analysis, including using Excel for these purposes. So far, in weekly lab meetings I am discussing the background and experimental design of my project, and I am working on my experimental schedule for the fall based off of those lab meetings as well. By the end of the next few weeks, I hope to have a better understanding of the background of my project and its experimental design!
