FUSION -- case studies #4 -- Bioelectronics

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SCI-FUN

University of Edinburgh

Case study #4
Bioelectronics: the IET Christmas Lecture

In mid-2010, FUSION was approached by Professor Ron Pethig (chair in Bioelectronics at the Integrated Micro and Nano Systems Research Institute, in the School of Engineering) to help design and present the IET Christmas lecture.

The lecture was to be delivered to a group of Scottish secondary schools, in November and December of 2010. (Weather conditions intervened, and some of the lectures eventually had to be postponed to the following year.) Ron approached our team specifically to provide assistance in the area of school (and general public) engagement.

The science of Bioelectronics is not a familiar subject for the public at large, and the talk had to lay considerable groundwork in the underlying sciences, before we could explore some of the more complex areas of research.

Bioelectronics is concerned with the manipulation of cell structures using complex electric fields, shaped by tiny clusters of electrodes. One problem immediately became clear: how to give the audience a sense of the scale of these electrodes, and indeed in the length-scales of individual cells. Some time was spent designing 3D graphic animations (shown below), to bring this home to the audience (as quickly as possible, given the amount of material to be covered in the talk.)

The talk leant heavily on film clips, edited and arranged to seamlessly move from one to the other, with a minimum of text. Humour (as befits a Christmas show) was added throughout, and the show was kept lively.

FUSION and SCI-FUN responsibilities

FUSION and SCI-FUN were heavily involved in both the preparation for the talks, and the presentation of the first lecture at the George Square Theatre.

Dozens of film clips (from a variety of sources) were edited, enhanced, and linked together, to form the spine of the presentation. (Some examples are shown below.) A 3D model of one glass electrode slide was constructed and animated to show the sizes of cells relative to the electrodes, and their location in the structure.
Bespoke slide graphics were generated for the talk (a few of which are shown opposite). Where possible, text was omitted, and images were used to tell the story. (Whenever possible in a SCI-FUN show, the presenter provides the narrative arc for the talk, rather than using on-screen text. This does, of course, require the presenter to be extremely familiar with the content of the presentation, but it avoids altogether the faux pas of "reading the bullet points...")
A series of demonstrations were organised – including the operation of the world's smallest television set (with a 5mm screen) – to be interspersed with the talk. One of the SCI-FUN presenters acted as the on-stage assistant, allowing Ron to concentrate on the delivery of the show.
The SCI-FUN team organised the event at the venue, including a preliminary site recce, the provision of risk assessment documentation, the on-the-day training of support staff, and the general public engagement training of the speaker.

Click on the images below, to download the example film-clips.


The short film clip starting the talk, introducing the four-electrode slide	Another clip, moving from the zoomed-in animation to film of real cells.	An old-fashioned chase sequence for Christmas...