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for Blood Transfusion
Timeline: 6 months
Client: University of Edinburgh, MRC
Value: £20k
Aim: The hands-on exhibition, developed for the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2010, discusses stem cells and their potential for use in future medicine. Based on the £2.9M Wellcome Trust funded collaborative research project, 'Proof of principle: human embryonic stem cell derived red cell concentrates for clinical transfusion', project scientists are working together to generate a limitless and infection-free supply of red blood cells in the laboratory from human embryonic stem cells for use in clinical blood transfusion. The aim was to produce the exhibition from concept right through to installation. FifeX was to be involved in every single aspect of development, including the project management.
What we did: FifeX worked on this project over a few months and developed all the ideas with the team. The ideas were developed and built and the whole exhibition came together for a training day with 2 weeks to go before the exhibition. In London, FifeX was on hand, installing the exhibition and making last-minute tweaks before the big event. There were many parts to this exhibition, the main ones are listed below.The Stem Cell Lab - The first part of a 2-part exhibit, the Stem Cell Lab encourages users to generate a 'cure' for Stem Cell Stella. Users start with a stem cell and have to make some key decisions to affect what cure they produce for poor Stella! This interactive exhibit can be used at a variety of levels and explains to users how one stem cell can differentiate into different cell types; the pluripotent nature of stem cells. If and when the user successfully generates a 'cure' that Stem Cell Stella requires, they can then 'feed' Stella the cure and complete the process.Stem Cell Stella - This is part of a 2-part exhibit but does stand-alone if required. When coupled with the Stem Cell Lab, Stem Cell Stella is the last part of the exhibition. In part 1, Stem Cell Lab, users will have generated a 'cure' for Stella and in this section they have to use it to cure her. It is based on the simple children's activity of fitting the right shapes into the right holes; on this exhibit there are 6 'cures' that can be used and each one generates a recorded cheer from some young people when it is correctly inserted. Each 'cure' can be developed from a stem cell and this, coupled with the Lab, demonstrates the pluripotency of stem cells.The Stem Cell Challenge software asks users a series of questions about stem cells, blood and the development of new medicines.The key features of the design are the following:The client can update the questions easily through a text file and can have several versions with different difficulties so that the game can easily be adapted for any audience.The amount of questions and topics can be changed at any timeMany of the on-screen design features are edit-able by the clientThe game can be played in 2 player or 1 player modeThe user input is via radio controlled handsets (with plenty spare ones!) meaning that it can be played in close proximity or in a lecture theatre environment.
External Link to Client's Website: http://www.ed.ac.uk