Biochemist and photographer Linden Gledhill spends most of his time staring into a microscope. His day job is developing drugs to treat cancer. His off-hours are spent taking highly magnified pictures of everything from snowflakes to interference patterns. Lately, he's been fascinated by crystals of DNA, which are pretty trippy.
“The first time I saw them crystallize gave me goose bumps,” he says. “I’d seen some images in research papers, but I wasn’t prepared for their stunning beauty when viewed firsthand.”
DNA crystals form when a double helix is suspended in liquid that evaporates. They grow in patterns dictated by the information stored within the strands. Seen in cross-polarized light, they display a mind-bending kaleidoscope of color and shape. "The huge range of crystal structure is amazing,” Gledhill says.
It takes a scientist’s know-how to capture these tiny scenes. Gledhill starts by placing a highly concentrated solution of synthetic DNA under a cover slip on a slide. He uses short fragments, since they tend to develop into a wider variety of forms. As the liquid evaporates, crystals begin to bloom. Gledhill uses a Canon EOS 5D mark II camera mounted on the eyepiece to record the magical evolution at a up to 10,000 magnification. The results aren't textbook pictures of molecules, but rather works of psychedelic art.
It took about three months of nights and weekends to capture 15,000 DNA crystals, and Gledhill made videos and GIFs that reveal the entire process. He sets the camera to capture thousands of photos at regular intervals, as it takes 24 images to make each second of video. "The complexity is that you don’t know what is going to form and how beautiful it will be so its very much hit and miss," he says.
The process is incredibly gratifying. In contrast to his professional work, in which Gledhill can spend months or years developing a drug with no guarantee it will work as hoped, the camera delivers far faster results. "My photography projects are typically completed in a few weeks, so there is an almost immediate satisfaction," he says.
This series has the added benefit of raising money for MSSNG, a campaign by Autism Speaks to create an open-source database of DNA from the families of those with autism.
Gledhill plans to keep at it. He’s drawn by the dazzling possibilities each DNA strand holds. Playing with a number of variables—its molecular make-up, the composition of the saline solution that holds it, and even the temperature of the room—can impact what the crystal looks like. "There are many other shapes and forms to be found." he says. "Combine this with the variety of optical lighting settings within the microscope, and there are almost endless combinations to be explored."
