Biochemist captures images of liquid, crystallized DNA

© bibliotecapleyades

Liquid crystal DNA

These fascinating images, that on first inspection look like a Grateful Dead gatefold, are actually liquid DNA molecules crystallizing. They were captured by the artist and biochemist Linden Gledhill for a new project called MSSNG.

MSSNG is an ambitious program launched by the advocacy organization Autism Speaks. As scientists sequence the DNA of 10,000 families affected by autism, all the data collected will be made available as open source to other researchers around the world in an attempt to fill in the missing pieces surrounding the condition.

In his studio, Gledhill uses a research microscope that can magnify up to 1000 times. The beautiful colors are the result of using polarizing light which is then twisted by the DNA crystals, causing an interference in the light spectrums. The patterns you see are the visual result of that interference, captured by a camera set up on an extra port on the microscope.

As water evaporates from the edges of DNA samples placed between two glass slides, the structure gradually crystallizes. The dark areas are where there is liquid and no structure but as the molecules become better aligned we see these vivid colors. These timelapse films capture this stunning process.

The common visual understanding of DNA is the double helix. But that is actually an atomic model. If you had a microscope that could magnify 1000 times, you'd also know that what you are seeing is not the atomic level but the much larger molecular structure as it aligns.

"It's actually very cool because few people have really seen images like these before our research groups," explains Gledhill. "When people see them they ask me, 'What is that?' They have no idea and are quite surprised it's DNA."

The colors and patterns in these photos look like they must be computer generated, but the only photoshopping Gledhill has done for project has been stitching multiple images together to form big panoramas for individual posters. These posters will be sold to raise money for the MSSNG campaign.

Over the course of a month, Gledhill took over 15,000 images in whatever spare time he could find. He said that often this kind of hardcore science, something as technical as crystallizing DNA, gets buried in academia, never seeing the light of day. Creating these powerful images is his way of opening up this process, to get more people talking about autism and collaborating on finding the missing answers.

To see more of these striking images and donate visit mss.ng.

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