Real research for kids’ education centre

The first children’s science education centre based within a working medical research laboratory has opened its doors and is ready to inspire the next generation of biologists.

Centre of the cell aims to inspire young people to take an interest in science

Centre of the Cell will offer children and teenagers an insight into what scientists actually do and how their work influences real life, through a series of exciting interactive games.

Based at the Whitechapel campus of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, part of Queen Mary, University of London Centre of the Cell is a giant orange ‘pod’ suspended within the atrium of the RIBA award winning glass Blizard Building.  Visitors will approach the pod via a glass walkway and, as they enter, look down on the scientists working in the building’s vast laboratory.

Professor Fran Balkwill, director of Centre of the Cell and a leading cancer researcher in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: “I am so thrilled that Centre of the Cell is now open. This is a unique way for kids to get engaged with science. There’s a lot to learn about science here and children will learn in a way that’s meaningful and fun.”

Once inside, visitors gather around a central ‘nucleus’ for a powerful audiovisual display, projected around the walls of the pod, which introduces them to cells. The nucleus then opens to reveal interactive games - visitors can try their hand at virtual experiments, observe real body parts and diagnose disease using high-power microscopes.

All of the scientific content in Centre of the Cell is based on the medical research conducted at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. During every school session at the Centre, children will get to meet researchers based at the Medical School and ask questions about their work. More than 80 top scientists and researchers have contributed to the world class content of the Centre.

“The aim of the Centre is to inspire young people to take an interest in science, to improve their knowledge of science and perhaps to lead them to becoming scientists themselves one day,” said professor Balkwill.