Here's something I wrote when I was in college about my research. (You can't make this stuff up, kids.)
My project involves the study of the pre-mRNA splicing mechanism in Drosophila melanogaster, the laboratory fruit fly. A mutagenesis screen will be carried out with a Drosophila strain, of my own creation, that has a mutant pre-mRNA splicing pattern. In this mutant, splicing out of the second intron is greatly reduced, and I would like to isolate modifiers of this gene I induce during mutagenesis. I will screen for the mutants first in vivo by looking for dominant eye color mutations, then isolate the mutation(s) by mapping the gene(s). Finally the gene(s) can be sequenced, and assessed for their role in affecting assembly of the spliceosome or suppression/activation of the U1 snRNP. Hopefully it will be possible in the future to take what we have learned about the genetics of the fruit fly, and apply our knowledge to the study of human diseases caused by pre-mRNA splicing defects to come up with more effective modes of treatment.