Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

Differential Scanning Calorimetry — A Method for Assessing the Thermal Stability and Conformation of Protein Antigen
Published on: March 4, 2017
Glassy behavior of denatured DNA films studied by differential scanning calorimetry
Jessica Valle-Orero1, Jean-Luc Garden, Jacques Richard
1Institut Laue Langevin, BP 156, 6, rue Jules Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France. valleorero@ill.fr
Abstract:
We use differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study the properties of DNA films, made of oriented fibers, heated above the thermal denaturation temperature of the double helical form. The films show glassy properties that we investigate in two series of experiments, a slow cooling at different rates followed by a DSC scan upon heating and aging at a temperature below the glass transition. Introducing the fictive temperature to characterize the glass allows us to derive quantitative information on the relaxations of the DNA films, in particular to evaluate their enthalpy barrier. A comparison with similar aging studies on PVAc highlights some specificities of the DNA samples.

