When the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta notified Heartland Health\u2019s Dr. Scott Folk, who specializes in infectious diseases, that they wanted to conduct research on a new virus that he had discovered in northwest Missouri, Scott immediately suggested that the center work with a Missouri Western professor and his students. Scientists at the center complied, giving Dr. David Ashley\u2019s biology students a valuable experience they won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n
Once in the fall of 2011 and three times last summer, personnel from the CDC and several local and state agencies, up to 30 at times, visited two area farms to track the cause of a virus that had infected two northwest Missouri patients treated by Scott in 2009. David and five students were able to assist the scientists with their field research on all four visits.<\/p>\n
They helped trap ticks, mosquitoes, birds and mammals, and helped remove ticks from the mammals so the ticks could be frozen and sent to CDC laboratories for testing. The blood of the mammals and birds was also drawn for testing in laboratory space set up in the Missouri Department of Conservation regional headquarters building on campus. \u201cThe students got a lot of experience with field methodology and surveying habitat,\u201d David said. \u201cThey participated in a wide variety of activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Grieshaber, a sophomore from St. Joseph, plans to become an infectious disease specialist and had shadowed Scott two different times before the research opportunity came about. Scott had mentioned the tick research to Brandon, and he was immediately interested.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it would be a great opportunity to work with the CDC,\u201d Brandon said. \u201cIt was really cool to be a part of science. I enjoyed everything about it; the whole experience was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CDC scientists wouldn\u2019t let you just stand around and watch. They\u2019d ask you to come over and do it yourself,\u201d Breana Higdon, one of the student researchers, said. \u201cJust knowing you were working with the CDC, it felt like an honor to work with the people who keep disease under control.\u201d<\/p>\n
A paper on the virus was published by the CDC, with Scott as a co-author, in the New England Journal of Medicine in August 2012.<\/p>\n
Why Scott knew David and recommended him to the CDC goes back to an incident that happened several years ago. David became very ill and was admitted to Heartland Health, and Scott diagnosed his illness as tick-borne. They became friends, and Scott has assisted students in David\u2019s Medical Parasitology class twice each semester every year since.<\/p>\n
David said it was unique for students to have the opportunity to interface with globally recognized experts, but it was not unique that Missouri Western\u2019s biology students were engaging in undergraduate research with faculty members. \u201cThis is what we do here,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what we want our students to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is amazing and fantastic that Missouri Western allows their students to get involved in research with professors and scientists,\u201d said Nicole Wallace, one of the students who helped with the research. \u201cIt helps build resumes so students have a higher chance of getting a job or getting into graduate school, medical school or veterinarian school.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that some of the CDC researchers were working on earning their doctorates, so she gained a lot of valuable advice about getting accepted into graduate schools. \u201cThey were all extremely nice and very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katie Kilpatrick, another student researcher, agreed with Nicole. \u201cIt was very rewarding to hear the scientists\u2019 experiences working for the CDC and hear where they went to school and other opportunities they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
David said two students who were involved hope to pursue internships at the CDC, thanks to the contacts they made through the research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta notified Heartland Health\u2019s Dr. Scott Folk, who specializes in infectious diseases, that they wanted to conduct research on a new virus that he had discovered in northwest Missouri, Scott immediately suggested that the center work with a Missouri Western professor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4190,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions\/4190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}