Inside DNA was a unique, £1.5 million five-year project and the first major UK touring exhibition on genomics. Funded by The Wellcome Trust and delivered in partnership between ASDC and At Bristol Science Centre (now We The Curious), with special scientific support from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, Inside DNA offered the public a chance to challenge their own perceptions of genome research and have a say in the future policy of a science that will affect our lives.
This travelling exhibition aimed to reach one million people over five years, touring across a network of eight Science Centres along with a series of ‘exhiblets’ for display at high-traffic, smaller public areas in the UK. The design concept placed particular emphasis on provoking questions and stimulating debate around the issues raised by current developments in human molecular genetics and genomics. Within the exhibition there were multiple opportunities for visitors to engage with key ideas and issues through participation in Dialogue Zones facilitated by science communicators on the exhibition floor. The exhibition was self-directed, allowing each visitor to follow his or her own path of learning and engagement with content that was updated as the exhibition progressed, keeping up-to-date with the rapid pace of the developing science.
The exhibition was divided into five separate clusters:
- Genetics – explored how the structure, function and interactions of the human genome changes our understanding of human biology. With the Human Genome Project as a historic milestone and arguably the first ‘Big Science’ project in biology, this section explored how our current knowledge of the structure, function and interactions of the human genome changed our understanding of human biology? How much DNA do we have? And how can different genetic mutations affect an organism?
- Identity – explored how contemporary genetics helps to identify similarities and differences between us including the personal and forensic applications of this knowledge. This section discussed some of the privacy issues raised by genomic research and the concerns people have over genetic databases and their uses.
- Health – explored the potential for applying contemporary genetics in prevention and treatment of illness and how genetic knowledge is beginning to help us better identify, understand and treat diseases. This section looked into using genomics for the prevention and treatment of disease, promotion of health with the potential to be used as a tool to accelerate diagnosis, assess susceptibility to disease and to identify genes involved in complex disease such as cancers. It addressed how the availability of new genetic technologies such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and over-the-counter genetic tests have also raised difficult choices for individuals.
- Evolution – explored how contemporary genetics has improved our understanding of human evolution and the similarities and differences between ourselves and other primates. This section examined the possibilities genomics will bring to society in the future and how genomic research continues to pose big biological and philosophical questions about the way living things function and evolve.
- Dialogue zone – this section was designed to allow visitors to give their views on the ethical issues raised by the exhibition. With a programme of presenter-led activities, ‘meet the expert’ sessions and a suite of News and Views pods, visitors were able to find out the latest news on genomic research, vote on a variety of questions and leave their thoughts behind. One set of stories related directly to issues being discussed by the government’s advisory body, the Human Genetics Commission (HGC). The results of these questions were compiled and sent to the HGC at regular intervals, to feed into their discussions.
Photo credit: We The Curious (formally known as At Bristol)
