Hartmann lab members Sarah Ben Maamar, Ryan Blaustein, and Adam Glawe, along with friends from the Gaillard (Marco Alsina) and Cusatis (Madura Partridge) labs, shared an interactive hands-on experience to illustrate how UV light causes damage to DNA at the Science L.A.B.²: Learning and Building Bridges day. This event is organized by the Embassy of France in the US and the Consulate of France in Chicago. In the demo students exposed blue-colored bacteria to UV light. While some bacteria die when exposed to UV, others mutate and turn white. This experiment gave students an opportunity to explore effects of UV light and UV protection on bacterial survival and mutation rate. Take-home message: wear sunscreen!

Ryan, Sarah, Adam, and Marco pose next to their demo

Sarah walks students through the demo