Two forensic chemistry undergrads have given new meaning to the phrase, ‘take a bite out of crime.’

In their experiment, seniors Lisa Lojek and Megan Wenning will expose Orbit brand gum to different environmental conditions in order to measure how each condition affects the gum’s ability to hold DNA.

“If people are using DNA evidence in a courtroom, this type of research needs to be done,” said Lojek, adding that courts should understand how long a DNA sample remains viable before using one as evidence in a case.  

The team will expose gum to different levels of sunlight, heat, light and temperature in order to measure a variety of environmental conditions that could affect DNA, said Glen Jackson, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the experiment’s adviser. 

“We already know factors like sunlight and heat degrade DNA, but we are trying to figure out how long the gum can withstand these conditions and still produce viable DNA in court,” Wenning said.

The experiment is in a “flexibility stage,” so the team is still deciding in which environments they will test the gum — such as on pavement, in water and buried under dirt, Wenning said. These are all places where investigators are likely to find gum after a crime.

The team hopes to conduct the actual experiment fall quarter before Lojek graduates, she added.

The research team received a $1,000 award from the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fund in November. The fund gave 83 awards totaling $88,000 to student researchers this year, according to a news release.

Jackson’s research-incentive accounts at Ohio University, which hold funds recovered from his own research, cover other costs of the experiment.

The award helps pay for the use of a genetic analyzer, a device that separates DNA using a strong electric field, Jackson said. The team pays for use of the machine per run.

The team uses the genetic analyzer to focus on the Short Tandem Repeat, a strand in DNA that repeats nucleotides a unique number of times in each person. Determining the number of repeats within the Short Tandem Repeat allows scientists to match DNA to an individual, Lojek said.

The genetic analyzer at OU’s Genomics facility is newer and can separate more DNA samples at a time than the one in Clippinger Lab, which the team had previously been using, Jackson said.