BIOREME at the British Science Festival

On Saturday 17th September the BIOREME team set-up an outreach stand on a main shopping street in Leicester as part of the British Science Festival, organised by the British Science Association. It was fantastic to have so many people from all walks of life engage in our interactive activities.

Participants joined Dr Carl Whitfield in a lung VR experience where they explored a reconstructed 3D model of a patients lungs, originally taken from a CT scan. Professor Alex Horsley and Maddie Driskel introduced the public to a real set of pig lungs - participants were able to inflate the lungs themselves using the attached pump, they got asked some insightful questions from adults and children. Professor Bindi Brook directed people through a series of hands on models that visually demonstrated what happens to the airways in patients with conditions such as asthma, they were also introduced to the idea of developing a model using patient data. This was all made possible by Dr Anne Canning who coordinated and setup the stand as well as engaging participants in discussion about BIOREME throughout the day.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Medical Physics team at Salford Royal Hospital including Dr Stuart Watson and Daniele Rimini, who lent us their VR kit and developed the software for visualising the lungs in 3D. Furthermore, a thanks Alex’s daughter, Kate, for helping to faciliitate a number of the activities and the BSF team for coordinating such a successful event.

Some comments from the public included,

“I loved the experience! Great feeling to be inside the lungs!”

“I learnt about how the lungs work when someone has asthma”

“I learnt how inhalers help people to breathe”

“The VR experience is a cool way to show something that is otherwise “invisible” to us”

“It was interesting to find out about how forces affect smooth muscle cells”