Tayla's Project Page

Who:  I am from Herriman, Utah and decided to attend the University of Utah for the numerous opportunities to do scientific research, the livelihood of Salt Lake City, and the vast opportunities to stay active outside.

My scientific/engineering interests:  I have loved everything about science, medicine, and research since I was very young. I specifically became more intrigued with science when I had the opportunity to intern in a lab in high school. I desire to understand more about neuroscience and medical research.

Academic goals:  I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in biology with an emphasis in neurobiology and minors in chemistry and psychology, after which I hope to be accepted into an MD-PhD program. With this dual degree, I will be able to combine my love for medicine with research, as I relish the atmosphere of a lab and believe that this route will allow me to make a greater impact on society.

Career goals:  Someday I hope to become a medical scientist where I will be able to treat people through interaction and as well through research to help a vast population. After obtaining an MD-PhD, I want to help and inspire students who are first-generation college students and who have a passion for medicine like me.

The genus Drosophila contains thousands of different species over a vast geographical distribution and with drastically varying ecology. By studying several of these species, we aim to uncover how neural circuitry and structures adapt over an evolutionary time frame. One way to evaluate these adaptations is by comparing the size of specific brain structures. In order to draw meaningful inferences from these observations, it is necessary to ensure that size differences are not artifacts of species, in general, being different sizes. Here, we collected body, head and brain size measurements of four Drosophila species: D. melanogaster, the closely related D. simulans, D. elegans, and the more distantly related D. pseudoobscura. We determined that overall, D. elegans are smaller flies and D. pseudoobscura are larger than D. simulans. However, our results also suggest that D. pseudoobscura, despite being similar to D. melanogaster in body and head size, has an enlarged brain. These data will allow us to normalize the measurements of specific brain structures to account for different body sizes. We can then compare these structures to each species’ ecology and track changes throughout the Drosophila phylogeny, providing insight towards the mechanisms of neurological adaptation.

Anatomical Variations Amongst the Drosophilia Phylogeny Download Anatomical Variations Amongst the Drosophilia Phylogeny