By By DEBORAH SULLIVAN BRENNAN dbrennan@nctimes.com
With graphics showing molecular images and popular restaurant fare, University of San Diego physics professor Rae Anderson discussed the physics of entangled DNA with Cal State San Marcos students last week.
The lecture, one in four in the fall "Frontiers in Science" series, aims to fill students in on the science under way at universities and industry labs around the region. The talks are held at noon on Thursdays.
Topics reflect areas of growing commercial importance or research fields that blur the lines between traditional disciplines.
Anderson's talk bridged biology and physics, showing how the physical properties of DNA strands change depending on whether they are coiled in loops or stretched out in strands.
When strands of DNA accumulate, she told an audience of about 60 students, they twist around one another and constrain each other's movement, much like a plate of spaghetti.
Throw in some DNA loops and you end up with a plate of SpaghettiOs with strands of pasta threaded through them, further tightening the tangle.
Although the talk covered a technical topic mainly of interest to other scientists, CSUSM physics professor Michael Burin, who coordinates the lecture series, said there are often serendipitous applications for research.
"Some science is driven by industrial questions," Burin said. "Then there's other science that's pursued for the sake of knowledge, and as a result, there are byproducts that aren't seen ahead of time."
The physical properties of DNA are important, Anderson said, because DNA molecules function as natural polymers, similar to synthetic polymers manufactured for industrial and commercial purposes.
"You use polymers every day," Anderson said. "In shampoo, that goop in there doesn't help clean your hair at all. What's making that goop is polymers. It acts like a fluid, but if you put it between your fingers, it's also elastic."
In contrast to synthetic polymers, which must be manufactured, Anderson said DNA is easily grown in bacterial cells, and winds up more consistent and uniform than its human-made counterparts.
"You can make as much as you want," she said. "With synthetic polymers, you have to synthesize them. Here, we get it all for free."
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