DIY Heart Cells is an interactive workshop using conductive playdough to make perfect cardiomyocytes - the beating cells in your heart. The workshop was inspired by real research in the lab figuring out how to make perfect heart cells from stem cells.
We collaborated with education and design company Technology Will Save Us who regularly run electro dough workshops using conductive playdough.
After making a rectangular cell, participants added straws for ion channels (that make the cells electrically charged) and blobs of playdough for calcium (to trigger contractions) before connecting their cells to a battery.
An LED light or buzzer was then connected to the cell to show it was conducting electricity.
DIY Heart Cells was presented at the Imperial Festival 2015
Collaborators: Claire Poulet (NHLI Research Associate) , Sophie Pendrall (Technology Will Save Us) plus Nicola Helen (NHLI Research Associate), Tom Owen (NHLI Research Postgraduate), Magda Kloc(NHLI Research Technician), Viola Kooji and Edit Gara
Creative Producer: Ellen Dowell
Contacts
Ellen Dowell
Public Engagement Officer
e.dowell@imperial.ac.uk