A Race against the Clock?

About 5 months ago we started the development of Babraham Institute’s newest exhibit: ‘Race Against the Ageing Clock’. This exhibit will be showcased at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition from the 2^nd – 8^th July and will focus on the Institute’s cutting-edge ageing research in epigenetics and highlights a new computer model called the Epigenetic Clock.

In the last 5 months I have been supporting an amazing team of researchers from the Reik, Casanueva, Houseley, Kelsey and Rugg-Gunn laboratories in developing the exhibit. Going from a proposal full of ideas to completing the physical exhibit takes quite some time and a lot of revisions! I lost count of the number of versions of the logo we reviewed until we were satisfied, but now that we have one it was worth every revision. And that is how I would describe our process so far; with each team meeting, or design review, our exhibit becomes a bit more polished, more coherent and more engaging.

We also tested some of our prototypes and activities at the Cambridge Science Festival in March where we gathered valuable feedback which has helped us to continue developing the exhibit. For example, we tested our explanations and phrasing, investigated ways to show the effect of diet on how C. elegans worms ages and trialled our new stem cell race game.

These and many other questions are currently being answered by sub-teams of researchers working on each activity. And did I already mention that besides all the work that the team puts into the developing the exhibit activities, we are also producing a video to share with those unable to attend the Exhibition? That we are also creating a leaflet on the science behind the exhibit? And that we are planning the logistics to ensure we are ready to go to London for a full week?

The clock is ticking! We have 2 months left, and I am confident that we’ll be able to make it to the finish line.