Lilly Swigert
8th Grade, The Archer School for Girls
Los Angeles, CA
Fly Away From Addiction: Testing Dibenzazepine’s Effect on Ethanol Preference in Drosophila melanogaster
Lilly tested whether dibenzazepine could be used as a treatment for alcohol addiction. Using fruit flies, she fed them ethanol and then tested whether dibenzazepine affected how much alcohol they consumed. She showed that her lower dose of dibenzazepine reduced the amount of ethanol the flies drank.
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Project Background
“Although I have not experienced or known anyone with Alcohol Use Disorder, I have observed the destructive effects it has on families, self-worth, and health through media and literature,” Lilly says. While she knows that many people seek treatment for alcohol addiction with Alcoholics Anonymous or through behavioral therapy, Lilly wanted to develop a medication that might help. She decided to test dibenzazepine, which is a chemical that serves as the base for drugs to treat conditions like epilepsy and schizophrenia.
Tactics and Results
Lilly tested how fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) responded to dibenzazepine after exposure to alcohol. First, she had her flies feed freely on 15 percent ethanol for two days. She then separated her flies into three groups, and treated the first group with no dibenzazepine, the second with 0.11 mg/mL dibenzazepine and the third with 0.14 mg/mL dibenzazepine. She then offered all the flies 15 percent ethanol and normal food to see which they preferred. Flies that did not receive dibenzazepine drank 0.52 µL/mg ethanol, and flies that got the highest dose of the drug drank 0.42uL/mg. But those who received the middle dose drank less, only 0.38µL/mg. Her results show that dipenzazepine helped reduce that amount of alcohol the flies consumed.
Beyond the Project
Lilly loves singing, drama and musical theater. “Becoming a character gives me space to explore deep emotional connections with others and situations so unlike my life,” she says. She and her family also volunteer at Our Big Kitchen LA, making and handing out meals for the elderly and homeless. Lilly would like to go to medical school. “Through TV shows, real-life experiences, and research, I learned about surgery, anatomy and the impact medical workers have on their communities,” she says. “I find medicine to be particularly interesting because it not only focuses on science but also on personal interaction.”
