Drug Discovery Hub and Tate Group at The Great Exhibition Road Festival 2025

Drug Discovery Hub and Tate group members demonstrated Cell Painting techniques to the public

The Great Exhibition Road Festival is an annual celebration of science, art, and innovation that takes place in the heart of South Kensington, London. Rooted in the legacy of the 1851 Great Exhibition, the festival unites world-renowned institutions like Imperial College London, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Across a vibrant weekend in June, Exhibition Road transforms into a lively hub of discovery, filled with interactive exhibitions, hands-on experiments, inspiring talks, and performances that showcase the extraordinary intersections of creativity and research.

This year researchers from the Drug Discovery Hub and Tate group, organised by team lead Daria Berezina and supported by artist Alice Haskell, explained cutting edge research techniques. Members of the public were invited to try their hand at Cell Painting, a technique used to visualise differences in how cells respond to treatments. Research experience wasn’t necessary to take part in this workshop, visitors simply needed to paint water onto photochromic paper to reveal prints of colourfully stained cells.

The public also tried their hand at racing their pipetting skills against a robot! The attraction proved popular with the next generation of young hopeful scientists, keen to see if they could set up an experiment faster than the robotic instrument used in the lab today. The Imperial scientists used the race to show how much they can supercharge their research by using robotics to rapidly and precisely set up experiments.

Congratulations to the team for a successful weekend at the Festival, many thanks to the GERF organising team and once again, extra thanks to Alice for bringing Cell Painting to life!