Unique research into ‘artificial life’ forms at The University of Nottingham was being showcased in an unusual exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London recently.
The project was one of 16 scientific studies on show at the RCA last weekend (19th March) in which the scientists teamed up with designers to create a visual interpretation of the potential real-life impact of their scientific developments.
The extraordinary exhibition was called IMPACT! and was organised by the Engineering and Physcial Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which was funding the projects. It was designed to give the wider public a powerful insight into how today’s cutting-edge research might transform our experience of the world.
The University of Nottingham’s collaboration has been with RCA graduate designer James King who was challenged to design an artistic representation of a new concept in Synthetic Biology — the interaction between a fictitious artificial ‘cell’, ie chemically created, and organic living cells. The resulting piece of design was called a ‘Cellularity Scale’, a 3D model which depicts an imaginary scale to measure degrees of ‘living-ness’ of a synthetic cell. It explored the question: ‘When does an artificial chemical cell (chell), which mimics behaviours and characteristics of a natural cell, become a real ‘living’ cell?’
Professor Cameron Alexander from the University’s School of Pharmacy said:
“The IMPACT! exhibition is a very effective way of visualising what the real-life impact of our research might be. The ‘Cellularity Scale’ is a great way of illustrating this part of the work we are doing for the EPSRC. Also involved in the research project are Natalio Krasnogor from the School of Computing, as well as our partners in the project, Lee Cronin (Glasgow University) and Ben Davis (Oxford University).”
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Posted on Thursday 18th September 2014