12:00 p.m., May 29, 2003--“DNA 50,” an exhibition celebrating 50 years of life science research, will open June 4 and run through June 13 in Daugherty Hall at the Trabant University Center.

James Watson (left) and Francis Crick with their DNA model, © Antony Barrington Brown, 1953. Limited edition prints available at [www.sciencephotogallery.co.uk].

Sponsored by the UD and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, the exhibition is on loan from the UK’s British Council and will be on free public display from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays.

“We’re honored to be selected by the British government as one of the few locations where this important exhibit will be shown,” David Weir, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, said. “The elucidation of the double helical structure of DNA and the process of replication was a momentous point in 20th-century science.”

Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, UD President David Roselle and Andrew Mackay from the British Embassy will open the exhibit in a ceremony at 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 4, in Daugherty Hall.

The exhibition includes a large three-dimensional model of DNA, computer interaction accessed through the United Kingdom Culture Laboratory web site and a seven-minute film on the

history of DNA and developments in biotechnology.

The traveling exhibition is part of international anniversary celebrations that mark the 1953 publication in the journal Nature of a paper by Francis Crick, a British scientist, and James Watson, an American biologist working with him at Cambridge University, concerning the molecular structure of DNA, the chemical substance found in the nucleus of every living cell.

The scientists showed that DNA’s double helix structure could both carry information and replicate itself, a discovery that revolutionized the study of biology.

Members of the community can make arrangements for group tours by calling Kristal Collins at 831-3432 or by sending e-mail requests to [DNA50@dbi.udel.edu]. UD life sciences students and postdocs will staff the exhibition, assisting visitors as needed.

Article by Neil Thomas