Field Museum to pull back curtain

New exhibit will show genetic science up close, personal

By Robert Mitchum | Tribune reporter

9:54 PM EDT, April 29, 2008

Field Museum DNA lab open for inspection

Erica Zahnle (left), an educator and researcher and Erin Sackett-Hermann, a research assistant with the Field Museum, explain to visitors what they are seeing in the newly opened DNA lab. (Tribune photo by Nancy Stone / April 29, 2008)

Scientific research can often be a solitary pursuit, conducted behind closed doors. So for research assistant Erin Sackett-Hermann, the opening of the Field Museum's new people-friendly DNA Discovery Center will bring with it new exposure and new concerns.

"The intercom won't be on all day," Sackett-Hermann said, sounding relieved. "It would be difficult to release all of our students and make sure that everyone's using appropriate language."

When the exhibit debuts Friday, visitors will be able to watch—and occasionally hear—Sackett-Hermann and other Field Museum scientists extracting and analyzing DNA from plants and animals collected from around the world. A new laboratory room, visible to the public through a wall of glass panes, will provide a front-row seat to some of the museum's most cutting-edge genetic studies.

"To have an exhibit that is solely promoting research as its function and to actually be able to view the research while it's going on is really neat," Sackett-Hermann said. "It's not a mock-up, it's not people pretending to do lab work."

The lab's viewing area is the centerpiece of the 1,850-square-foot DNA Discovery Center, located on the second floor of the museum's central atrium. It will join the museum's Fossil Preparation Laboratory and the Regenstein Laboratory, where anthropological artifacts are preserved, in providing glimpses into the research institution hidden behind, above and below public attractions like Sue the Tyrannosaurs rex and the mummy collection.

This exhibit is intended to show off the museum's work on evolutionary biology, where scientists in the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution and visiting students use genetic data to study everything from Antarctic lichen to Brazilian sharks. The laboratory is surrounded by flat-screen monitors and video touch screens that will inform visitors about both the specific research being performed and the basics of DNA.

"We did a survey of people coming into the building and realized that most people don't know what DNA is and they don't really know what it does," said Shannon Hackett, associate curator for birds at the museum and one of the exhibit's planners.

"One of the main messages we want people who come to this exhibit to take away is that DNA is the thread that connects all life on Earth," Hackett said. "Every organism is connected through DNA and the process of inheritance and evolution in a grand tree of life, and it's this tree of life that our scientists study."

Manager Kevin Feldheim showed off the new laboratory's machinery, including a hybridization oven used to heat tissue samples, a thermocycle used to copy DNA fragments and the genetic analyzer. Despite the high-end technology, Feldheim said one of the goals of the exhibit is to downplay the difficulty of DNA extraction.

"We always like to tell people if you've ever worked in a kitchen and followed a recipe you can do this kind of work," Feldheim said. "Hopefully, it makes this whole field of genetic and DNA research a little more accessible to kids and the public in general."

The DNA Discovery Center also will have a researcher available to answer questions for one hour each day and video screens that will show live feeds from lab instruments, like the camera inside an ultraviolet light box used for visualizing DNA fragments. Researchers said the flashy attractions will help liven up the slow, incremental march of laboratory science while giving scientists a rare chance to connect with museum visitors.

"Pipetting is not particularly interesting to watch," Sackett-Hermann said. "But a lot of students are really proud of their research and they're excited to share it with the public."

rmitchum@tribune.com