The Microbe Zoo, one of the star attractions at this year’s Norwich Science Festival, will be taking up residence later this month at the Royal Society’s prestigious Summer Science Exhibition, in London, from 30 June to 5 July. The event is open to the general public and showcases the latest research from across the UK, through hands-on activities, talks and interactive exhibits. The Microbe Zoo was created jointly by the Centre for Microbial Interactions, a network that represents the work of Norwich Research Park’s microbiology community, one of the largest on one site in the world, and the SAW (Science Art Writing) Trust, an education charity.
The Microbe Zoo offers an interactive and immersive experience to visitors who are ‘shrunk down’ to microscopic size to travel through soil, waterways and the human gut where they learn about microbes and how they keep us healthy.
Much like a regular zoo, a visit to the Microbe Zoo takes you on a journey through different ecosystems to meet what lives there, only this time on a microscopic scale. The Microbe Zoo consists of large scale models through which festival goers will be taken on a guided tour by around 50 expert ‘zoo keepers’, who, in reality, are all scientists working at Norwich Research Park.
Once immersed in different microbial environments, a range of sounds, lights, interactive games and visuals show how microbes can be both a positive force for the planet or negatively impact our lives.
Visitors will witness how plants communicate with microbes and enlist their help to access the nutrients they need to grow and produce food for our plates. They’ll follow that food on its way through the human gut to meet its resident microbiome and see how fibre and a diet rich in vegetables support this microbial population, which in turn keeps us healthy. Visitors will also experience how invading microbes can cause disease and how the latest research breakthroughs could replace antibiotics in battling infections. The guided tour finishes with a journey through different waterways to see how microbes can positively and negatively affect the environment.
Prof Mark Webber, Director of the Centre for Microbial Interactions, is also giving a talk at the event about the importance of microbes titled ‘The invisible majority – how microbes rule the Earth’.
Sam Rowe, Project Manager at the Centre for Microbial Interactions, said, “The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition event is a really prestigious one and we are delighted to have had the Microbe Zoo selected. We had a tremendous response when the exhibit was installed at the Norwich Science Festival in February so are looking forward to sharing the diverse range of microbiology research that happens at Norwich Research Park with new audiences.”
The Microbe Zoo was designed and built in Great Yarmouth with originalprojects, an artist-led organisation working with local contemporary artists and communities.
Jenni Rant, Programme Manager at the SAW Trust, said, “We were very keen with this project to engage with communities that Norwich Research Park hasn’t had previous relationships with. Great Yarmouth is a vibrant hub for contemporary artists with a network extending across the country so building the Zoo at this studio has been a great experience. We have worked with an amazing, talented team of professionals to create something truly novel!”
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management company for Norwich Research Park, said, “Norwich Research Park has one of the largest communities of microbiologists, on one campus, anywhere in the world and the Centre of Microbial Interactions is doing a great job of raising the profile of this unique capability. The Microbe Zoo is a brilliant example of how art and creativity can bring science to life and make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for all. I am sure it is going to be a big hit at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition.”
Funding for the Microbe Zoo project was received from the John Innes Foundation as the founding sponsor as well as Norwich Freemen’s Charity, with further support from all of the Norwich Research Park Partners – Anglia Innovation Partnership, Earlham Institute, John Innes Centre, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, Quadram Institute, The Sainsbury Laboratory and the University of East Anglia.
