A world-renowned chemist gave her unique take on the DNA model as part of the 29th Annual Coover Lecture presentation.

Jacqueline K. Barton, professor at the California Institute of Technology, gave a lecture titled “DNA-mediated Charge Transport: Chemistry at a Distance.”

The ISU departments of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, in cooperation with the Ames Section of the American Chemical Society, sponsored the lecture, which was held in the Molecular Biology building. More than 300 people attended the presentation.

Barton was introduced as an individual who has approached the study of DNA and chemistry as a whole.

“It is an honor to be this year’s Coover lecturer,” Barton said during her opening remarks.

Barton gave credit to her colleagues throughout her presentation, as she concluded with a photo presentation of all of her colleagues followed by a list of supporters.

Barton said there is ultimately one important message that she wanted audience members to understand.

“If there is one thing I want you to take home from this, it is that the path to DNA-mediated electron transfer is base pair stacking,” Barton said.

During her presentation, the professor explained the results of several experiments she had conducted.

“DNA is the library of the cell, but let’s not think about that just yet,” Barton said. “Let us first look at DNA in terms of a chemical structure, look at it as a molecule.”

DNA is crucial in the world of science, she said.

“The uniqueness [of DNA] as a molecular assembly lies in its base pairs. It is truly stacked one with another; that stacking energy is the source of stability,” she said.

Barton said there is still much research to be done, though, on the subject of DNA.

“We are at just the beginning of mechanistically understanding how it all works. From a molecular standpoint, we wondered if electron transfer can happen,” she said.

Barton’s excitement was evident throughout her presentation, and in closing, she left the audience with several thoughts.

“I hope that I have given you a different perspective on the double-helical structure of DNA. DNA is fragile; it is in a solution undergoing change. You can exploit that,” Barton said.

Abby Meyer, one of several students from Drake University who attended the lecture, said she was interested in attending because the information provided was relevant to her major.

“I am very interested in science, and I thought it would be interesting,” Meyer said. “I’m going to be a pharmacist, so this had to do with my chosen field.”

The annual Coover Lecture is held in honor of Professor Winfred Forest Coover, who came to Iowa State in 1913 and played an instrumental role in Iowa State’s chemistry department.