David Hale, a Wake Forest University student, worked with biology professor Susan Fahrbach to study honeybee behavior and brain plasticity. They designed a research project where bees of different ages were trained to associate colored lights with food rewards. Younger bees struggled with this learning task, while older bees, even very experienced foragers, were able to learn and adapt their behavior. This research helped show that honeybee brain structure and learning ability can change with experience over a bee's lifetime. The project provided Hale with valuable undergraduate research experience and a mentoring relationship with Professor Fahrbach.

1. David Hale (’15) works with biology professor Susan Fahrbach to
transform a drinking straw into a honeybee harness.
David Hale (’15) didn’t want to wait until he was an upperclassman to
participate in meaningful research. He found his opportunity, and much
more, at Wake Forest.
It was my senior year of high school. AP Exams, extracurricular activities and grades were my focus. But
among all of this work, I still had one of the largest decisions of my life to make: Where would I choose to go
to college? I wanted to attend a university that represented what I believed in and a school that would push
me to further myself. Most importantly, I wanted a school that would provide me with limitless academic
opportunities. As my senior year neared its end, I began to narrow my college choices down. All of the
schools that I was considering had attributes that gained my attention, but there was an important question
that I asked of each university: “Will I be able to participate in research after my freshman year?” The typical
response to my question was that research opportunities were reserved for upperclassmen, or that to
participate in scholarly research, I needed to complete all of the lower divisional first. Coming from a smaller
community where the opportunity to gain laboratory experience in high school was limited, I was eager to
work side-­by-­side with a professor in his or her lab. When I asked this same question at Wake Forest
University, the response I was given was much different. I was told that if there was a class that I enjoyed or
found thought-­provoking, I could simply ask the professor if he or she would be interested in allowing me to
be a part of his or her lab. That is exactly what I did.
In the first semester of my freshman year, I was taking a variety of
courses, but the class that I was most excited about was BIO114,
Comparative Physiology, taught by Professor Susan Fahrbach. The
workload continually challenged me, but my interest in the material
motivated me to work diligently. I was enthralled by the content of the
course and the way in which Professor Fahrbach presented it. She
was constantly organized, extremely knowledgeable and always willing
to help;; she was the type of professor I wanted to work with. After
successful completion of the course, I asked Professor Fahrbach if
she would like to apply with me for the Wake Forest Research
Fellowship program, and she gladly said yes. We worked together to
formulate a research question leading to the design of the procedure
and the finalization of the fellowship application. Shortly after our
submission of the application, we were happy to hear that our project was funded and that we would be
working together during the summer.
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2. That summer, I was able to complete a guided research project that deepened my love for science. More
importantly, I was able to develop a mentoring relationship with Professor Fahrbach. During our weekly lab
meetings, the lab members each established a set of goals to complete by the end of the summer. For me,
one of these goals was to work with Professor Fahrbach to plan courses for the following year as well as
the continuation of my undergraduate research career. Together we discussed my courses for the
upcoming year, the continuation of my research, my plans for the following summer and even my plans for
post-­graduation. At first Professor Fahrbach was challenging me within the classroom to study the subject I
love, but now she was challenging me to reach my full potential as a student and as a person. Each time I
met with her, she pushed me to pursue every available opportunity. Professor Fahrbach was truly interested
in me as a student, and she wanted to see that I was successful.
With the opportunity that I had over the summer, I gained much more than just another item for my resume;; I
developed a long-­lasting mentoring relationship with a professor. Professor Fahrbach encouraged me to
work hard, to be detail-­oriented and to prepare me for my future. She taught me that no matter what, I need
to be proud of the work that I complete. I plan to take her advice with me as I finish my four years at Wake
Forest, as I continue my education and as I pursue the study of what I love.
CAN AN OLD HONEYBEE LEARN A NEW TRICK?
The short answer is yes. And for Hale and the members
of his research team, the fun was in the finding.
His team is studying the relationship of brain structure to
function in bees, because they exhibit brain plasticity as
foraging experience is gained. In older, more experienced
foragers, a higher-­order region of the brain called the
mushroom bodies enlarges. Hale’s project studied the learning abilities of bees of all ages by
rewarding their response to bursts of blue and green light with a sugary snack.
After collecting bees of various ages, marking them with painted dots and fitting them neatly into a
custom harness engineered from a drinking straw, the team fed the bees a sucrose solution until
they could eat no more and gave them a 16-­hour nap. The proof was in the proboscis — the
elongated, tongue-­like appendage that extends when a bee feeds. On each test day, the first 10
bees to extend their proboscises for food were selected for the colored-­light experiment, where their
response or lack of response was recorded.
The end results indicated that of the 64 bees that completed the testing, the elder statesmen — even
if at a lesser learning rate than their middle-­aged peers — proved capable after all. It was the
youngsters, those bees less than 10 days old, that weren’t ready to learn. Hale plans to continue his
studies in order to determine if a larger brain region makes for a smarter bee, in an effort to better
understand this dynamic insect on which we depend greatly.
ibelieve@wfu.edu 336.758.5237 © 2013 Wake Forest University
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