DNA mural ties college namesake, generations of women together

DECATUR - The atrium of Agnes Scott College&#39;s new science center features a matrix of 1,125 letters flowing in a ladder-shaped spiral known as a double-helix. <br> <br> The letters represent an ancient DNA sequence that dates back to the first women of western Europe, 39,000 years ago. <br> <br> It is also the exact DNA sequence of the college&#39;s namesake, Agnes Irvine Scott. <br> <br> An alumnae of the college came up with the idea. But scientists faced the hard part: How do you get the DNA of a woman who died 126 years ago? <br> <br> Scientists decided to use DNA from the mitochondrion -- the structure in the cell that produces the energy a cell needs to function. It&#39;s passed on from mother to daughter and is the only kind that moves through the generations unchanged. <br> <br> So they found 51-year-old Lisa Lepovetsky of Saint Mary&#39;s, Pennsylvania -- a sixth-generation decendant of Scott. Scientists took three vials of her blood for the project. <br> <br> Lepovetsky says she likes the concept of generations of women tied together with this DNA. <br> <br> The new science center has already opened for classes, and a ceremony for the atrium will be held on February seventh.