Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Lila Teitle

Author: Lila Teitle

What was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?

Our primary research question was how could we induce ferroptosis in endometrial cells and how would the presence of peritoneal fluids in the environment influence the efficacy of ferroptosis inducers. We were able to successfully induce ferroptotic cell death in both types of human endometrial cells and also found that presence of peritoneal fluids greatly reduced these effects in vitro. This suggested that the surrounding environment of endometriosis plays a critical role in its development and pointed to several of the compounds we tested as viable options for future studies involving endometriosis treatments. This research will likely be published in a journal and included in my thesis.

What challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?

The main challenge of my project was controlling the experiment well enough to get low standard deviations and therefore statistically significant data. Several of the experiments I did needed to be repeated multiple times even if our results were promising to improve their accuracy and legitimacy. This could be frustrating at times, but overall my PI was very helpful and talked with me about my lab techniques and what might be causing the high deviations. In the end I was able to solve this issue in every experiment and obtain meaningful data.

What sparked your interest in this field?

I did not have previous interest in my field of study but rather joined my lab and grew to enjoy the research and became invested in the field of women’s health. I was offered the project I worked on over the summer because others in my lab had created some interesting preliminary data, and after reading over their findings I decided that I wanted to spend the next several months expanding on their work. Since then I have learned much more about the topic and have greatly enjoyed my work.

Curious about DSRF?

This project was made possible through the Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF)—a unique opportunity for rising juniors and seniors in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences to pursue funded summer research full-time!