Clara Kim ‘02

Recently my love of biology leapt successfully into the realm of charades. Picture it: four AM on a formerly Friday night and I'm playing charades. My turn. Grinning in anticipation, I walk in front of my two friends. I had come up with an incredible phrase just a moment before. Such perfect timing. I know I can never pull it off successfully without Dave, a friend who took genetics with me years ago. Before opening with the number of words, I warn my English-major friend, "Hmmm... This is more of a Dave one, okay?"

Kneeling, I form something like a box with my hands. Once this is established, my right hand pauses, then glides in a raking manner across the top of the box. The fingers touch and graze an invisible film on the top of the box. Almost immediately Dave shouts, "Gel electrophoresis!" as we leave our friend in complete bewilderment.

"Gel what?" He gives us a puzzled look that clearly says, "Okay fine, do your science thing. I'll just sit this one out."

Luckily, about five hours earlier, Dave and I had been recalling our shared days of recombinant DNA chocolate milk cows and achondroplastic dwarfs. In other words, genetics.

Surging on in the excitement of being understood, I point two fingers of my right hand like bunny ears. Twisting my hand slowly from right to left, I streak across the air at an angle.

"DNA!"

I point excitedly at Dave, who uttered the acronym just a split second ago.

Then the final moment arrives as I mimic scissors and begin cutting at the imaginary DNA floating before me.

"RFLP's!"

I shout with pure enthusiasm, "Yes! He got it! Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms! Yeeeah!" With a sigh of happiness, I give Dave a high-five before returning to the couch.

"A what?" Our friend nudges me and asks me for a quick explanation.

"Restriction enzymes cut DNA at specific places. Two people's DNA can have a different number of sites in which the enzyme cuts. So, a small portion of the first person's DNA might be cut in three places while the same section of the second person's DNA might be cut in only two of those places because of genetic differences. These differences are Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms. The gel electrophoresis I mimed earlier separates the DNA into different lengths, which allows you to compare RFLP's and is a simplified version of what they do in DNA fingerprinting."

He looks at me like he's saying, "Suuure…" He turns to Dave and tells him to do a charade.

Man, I love science.