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ImmersiveCell

Immersive Cell

Overview

Immersive Cell is a room-sized installation within the University of Colorado Boulder’s ATLAS Institute. By entering the room you are stepping inside of an E-coli cell and can touch, play, and interact with the different elements of the cell. Currently the cell contains large strands of interactive DNA that you can “unzip” by separating nucleotide pairs. As you separate the nucleotide pairs, the bases of the pair – A, G, C, and T – are revealed and denoted by color. Eventually you will be able to pick up pieces of RNA off the floor and attach it to the strands of DNA to create different RNA sequences. You will then be able to use these to activate proteins and then place the proteins in the cell’s receptors to change the behavior and appearance of the cell.

Immersive cell was designed and developed by Lila Finch, Annie Kelly, and Jordan Peters. Annie and Lila will continue working on the cell throughout the summer.

Videos

Timelapse of fabrication

Description of DNA interactions

DNA Materials