Jessica Lloyd's Response to the Interview

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

       I felt that the interview was very informative.  I have two family members that have Parkinson’s disease, so it was nice to learn about the doctor’s perspective on the disease.  I liked that Dr. Weinstein was so willing to talk to us; he seemed genuinely passionate about his work and about educating the public about the facts about Parkinson’s. 

  

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

The interview helped me to realize how important a role protein misfolding plays in the development of Parkinson’s.  Like most of the general public, I assumed that genetics played a distinct (albeit unknown) role in the development of Parkinson’s.  Hearing Dr. Weinstein explain how the drugs used to treat Parkinson’s counteract the symptoms resulting from protein misfolding really opened my eyes about the potential causes of this debilitating disease.  

                  

               3.  Did anything about the interview disturb you?

       What disturbed me about the interview, is when Dr. Weinstein was asked about whether evolution was important in his field, he promptly answered no.  This surprised me because in class we have talked about how important understanding evolution is to medicine.  This was especially disturbing to hear, because since Parkinson’s disease results from protein misfolding, it would logically follow that evolution would play a part in the mutations leading to protein misfolding.  

               4.  Describe the connections you found between the interview and your 

                     research & classwork.

       What I learned about protein misfolding from the interview was very similar to what I learned about in my Genetics, Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology classes.  The difference is that I had not applied this line of thinking specifically to Parkinson’s before the interview.  I also thought it was great how large an impact grid computing can play in researching how proteins are folded.  From my classes, I have learned how important proteins are to the life and development of our bodies, so it is great to learn that something so simple as running a program on your computer can increase our understanding of protein structure and function.