Time’s Fun When You’re Having Flies

Biology professor Nancy Pokrywka has a saying: “Time’s fun when you’re having flies.” Anna Payne-Tobin ’08 is inclined to agree. Payne-Tobin spent the summer after her junior year as an URSI fellow doing fly research with Pokrywka and then continued the work as her senior research project.

Q. You’re doing research on fruit flies with Nancy Pokrywka. How did that come about?
Junior year, I took Pokrywka’s research-based cell biology course, working with the flies. Basically, she gave us research questions and then we designed and carried out our own experiments. I hadn’t taken cell biology before that, and I just really liked it right off the bat. I got really excited about it and loved the experiments. At the end of the semester, I asked if I could do my senior research project with her, and she asked if I wanted to do URSI, too. I had done URSI the summer before, but on a different project.

Q. What were some of the highlights?
That summer marked the official beginning of the Flyrm Lab. Professor Pokrywka and Professor Susman decided to combine their labs because they’re working on similar questions but with different organisms. Professor Pokrywka works with fruit flies, and Professor Susman works with worms, but they’re both doing genetic studies and using similar techniques. There were four URSI students—three working on worms and just me working on the flies---and we got really close. We spent a lot of time together. We shared all the lab chores, so there was really no division between labs. Even though I’m the only dedicated fly person at the moment, it’s interesting to get a different perspective because it’s very similar work. We’re looking at different cells, and we work with the organisms in different ways, but we use similar techniques. A lot of times I’ll get different ideas for new experiments from the worm people. It’s also fun to just have a bigger lab community where people are bouncing ideas off one another and sharing ideas.

After that summer, I got to attend a fruit fly conference in San Diego with Professor Pokrywka, and that was really exciting. Fruit flies are one of the most important model organisms for researchers not just in genetics but also in cell biology, developmental biology, and biochemistry. There were over 3,000 people at the conference. It was a little overwhelming at first, but once I got in the swing of things, it was really fun. Now that I’ve been to a conference, I know what to expect, which is good since I’ll be going to a lot in grad school.

Q. Did you present a project?
I had a poster in the regular poster session with everyone else. My poster was right in there with grad students and post docs, and a lot of people came by and asked me questions. It was really satisfying. I felt pretty comfortable. At the end of URSI, there’s a poster session, so I knew what to expect . Everything on the poster was work I had done, and I knew it better than anyone who was coming to ask questions because it was my work.

Q. What are your post Vassar plans?
I’m entering the PhD program at the University of California-San Francisco. It’s one of the best schools in the country for cell biology. Long term, I want to teach undergrads and do research. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that you can’t do research and teach, but all the professors here do it and do it really well, so that’s kind of my model for what I’d like to do. There’s really a great commitment to research here and to getting students involved.

Q. You’re a biology major with an art history correlate. Did you come to Vassar expecting to major in bio?
I was pretty sure I wanted to be a biology major. I was really into in high school. My freshman year, I took art history, and I almost changed my mind. I almost majored in it! Ultimately, I decided that I’d be happier focusing on bio, so I minored in art history.

Q. Why Vassar?
Because it wasn’t too close to home. I’m from the Boston area, and my other choice was Tufts, but it was too close. My cousin went to Vassar, and her dad is a biologist. When she was applying to colleges, every school they visited, he went around to the biology departments and checked them out, even though she wasn’t interested in doing science. He gave the Vassar Biology Department the thumbs up, so it was all good. Also I liked that I could do things here besides just biology. The bio major here doesn’t have too many required classes, so you have time to do a lot of other stuff. I’ve taken a lot of art history and philosophy. Also I play the viola, so I’m in the orchestra and also in a chamber music group. I’m playing in the orchestra for the Opera Workshop right now, which is really fun.