Joe's Interview Response

1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.

 The interview was very interesting. Dr. Fisher is obviously a very intelligent person and I was very impressed with his vast knowledge on a variety of subjects. Although his knowledge of biology is superior to ours he did a good job of being able to explain things in a way we could better understand, and for the most part there was nothing that was completely above my head. I was also very interested to hear his background story and thought it was neat that he is originally from Kansas. Also I thought it was cool that his lab was the first to have images of the needle proteins.

2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview.

 One change that occurred for me is that I realized how complex the biological systems are that anthrax uses, and it also made me realize that in general that nearly all biological systems aren’t nearly as simple as they are sometimes made out to be in our textbooks.

3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?

 Somewhat related to my response to questions two is that it is kind of disturbing how complex these systems are. One thing that especially stood out as well was the fact that even if Dr. Fischer’s lab or other scientists figure out a way to stop anthrax (or any disease really) that it is possible (even likely) that anthrax would evolve and scientists would be forced to start their research all over again.

4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork.

 The connections Dr. Fischer made between genetics and evolution were very applicable to what we are talking about in class. It was cool to here him talk about some evolutionary concepts and think to myself “hey were studying that right now and I know exactly what he’s talking about”. It was especially relatable to class when Dr. Fischer talked about the genes evolving that code for the proteins and how its not the proteins that evolve but the genes that encode for them.

Claire's Interview Reflection:

1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.

Initially I was very nervous about the interview because we, a group of college students, were going to be interviewing someone with a Ph.D. and years of experience and research in his field about a topic that we had limited knowledge about. Dr. Fisher, however, was clearly very friendly and knowledgeable in his field but made a point to try and explain things in a way in which we could understand them. He even paused several times to make sure that he wasn't going too fast when he was discussing very complicated concepts.

2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview.

I really enjoyed talking to Dr. Fisher because it allowed me to see how someone took a childhood interest in science and made it into an interesting and successful career. Also, it is true that science classes tend to build upon each other but in general I've kept them separate and just focused on learning the material and succeeding in one at a time. Since doing this interview and studying the material in this class in particular, however, I've tried to look at how all these areas tie together, for example how crucially genetics and the things I learned last semester tie in to evolution.

3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?

Yes, the thing that disturbed me about this interview was just how "smart" diseases like anthrax are at invading your cells and taking over your body. Dr. Fisher's and many other scientists' work is trying to find a way to combat these, but it is still frightening how complicated it is to stop them and how efficient they are at their "job" and how long it will likely be before they can be eliminated.

4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork.

I'm hoping to continue my education after Rockhurst by entering a Masters program for Genetics, which I actually mentioned to Dr. Fisher (between Questions 5 and 6 of the interview), so hearing him discuss the field of genetics and how it can be applied to the evolution of diseases and all species having recently taken a Genetics course and being in an Evolution class currently was very interesting. It's always nice to see how concepts and theories that we learn in textbooks and in the classroom can be applied and used in the real world.

Misty's Blog Response

1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.
I really liked our interview for many reasons. Dr. Fisher was very nice and willing to help us and the things he had to say were very interesting and agreeable; however, a few of the things he talked about were above my comprehension level.

2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview?
I often times don't think about how diseases and other harmful factors affect more than just humans and he made me really thing about how anthrax affects animals besides ourselves in different ways.

3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?
Diseases and other harmful factors always disturb me when they are gone into in detail because of how easy it is for exposure to happen and infections to occur; however, it is just a fact of life that I obviously accept.

4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork.
Dr. Fisher went into a question about how evolution affects anthrax and other bacteria and viruses and how they can evolve to no longer be affected by vaccines or medicines intended to cure the affected organism so that they no longer are effective against the harmful factor.  He also went into how anthrax can affect two similar organisms in two different ways depending on their genetic make-up and these are all things we have gone over in class and done research for this project on.