DO I STAY OR DO I GROW?
Neil Dufton

Did you know that all of your blood vessels laid end to end would stretch twice around the world? To keep this huge network maintained, blood vessels have to decide whether to stay where they are or grow new vessels to improve the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the body. In this shop demo discover what makes a blood vessel stay or grow.

 

THE CELL OLYMPICS
Sarah Bowling

May the best cell win! Believe it or not, we all began life as just one cell. Very quickly after a sperm fertilises an egg, cells divide and start competing with each other, to make sure that we have the fittest possible cells for our body. In this Shop Demo find out more about this fascinating process.

BALLOON BREATHING

Tank Guney, Amy Day

Healthy lungs are very stretchy to take in lots of air for your body but in diseased lungs there is a build up of slimy sputum in the airways and it is much harder for air to get in. In this ‘hands-on’ shop demo see for yourself how healthy and diseased airways work by blowing up balloons!

 

THE CLEANING CREW OF THE BODY
Rebecca Holloway, Tank Guney

Macrophages are special white blood cells that ‘eat’ the dirt and bacteria in your lungs to keep them clean. In this Shop Demo find out more about why macrophages are so important for healthy lungs.

CUSTOM-MADE WINDPIPES ON DEMAND
Sara Rankin

Your windpipe is a tube that connects your throat to your lungs. Sometimes the windpipe can become diseased or damaged and scientists are now able to grow new windpipes using a patient’s own cells. This shop demo will explore this amazing cutting edge research.

BEATING HEART CELLS
Sian Harding

Stem cells are super cells that can transform into any other cell in your body, even heart cells. In this shop demo you’ll get the chance to see real beating heart cells down a microscope, and hear all about how scientists are using stem cells to repair broken hearts.

ENGINEERING HEART VALVES
Ivan Carubelli

Your heart contains four chambers and pumps blood all around the body. Each chamber has a valve making sure that the blood flows in the correct direction but sometimes the valves can become faulty. In this shop demo discover how we can engineer heart valves in the lab to replace faulty valves.

WHAT DO JELLYFISH AND TONIC WATER HAVE IN COMMON?
Nicola Hellen

Scientists use lots of different tools in the lab to do research, and one really useful tool glows in the dark – fluorescence! In this shop demo, find out how a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish protein has contributed to research all over the world.

CALCIUM – IT’S NOT JUST FOR BONES!
Rasheda Chowdhury

When you think of calcium you may think of teeth and other bones, but calcium is also the thing that makes hearts contract and pump blood. In this shop demo find out more about calcium and the heart.

THE FRIGHTENED HEART
Matt Tranter

We all know the feeling of a racing pulse when we get a shock or a thrill. In this Shop Demo, discover all about what makes your heart beat faster when you’re scared or excited, and find out how Adrenaline - the ‘fight or flight’ hormone - affects the pace of your heart.

MIGHTY MITOCHONDRIA
Jennifer Simonotto

Mitochondria are the batteries of our cells, providing energy for everything that they do. Heart cells are full of mitochondria which makes sense, given that the heart works constantly throughout our lives! Discover all about mitochondria and what happens if they go wrong in this shop demo.

PICK AND FIX
Jess Rowley, Richard Perryman, Sara Rankin

What are stem cells and why are they so special? In this shop demo, explore the super powers of stems cells, including their ability to transform into all kinds of different cells and to fix your body when it needs repairing.

BUILD A BLOOD VESSEL
Jill Johnson

Blood vessels are the transport system of the body, carrying oxygen from the ends of your fingers to the tips of your toes. In this shop demo, discover all about the different cells you need to build a blood vessel.

THE GREAT REGENERATION GENE QUEST
Claire Morgan

Did you know that some animals can re-grow body parts if they get damaged? But the real question is, why can’t we? The answer lies in our DNA and this shop demo will explore the genetic links between plants, animals and humans and their regenerative abilities.

 

CAULIFLOWER LUNGS
Jennifer Simonotto

What do lungs and cauliflowers have in common? This shop demo will show you why structures, called fractals, are so special throughout nature as well as how they help your lungs to be super efficient at oxygenating your blood.

CHANGING BEATS
Jennifer Simonotto

You may think that your heart beats in a steady rhythm, but in fact your heart has an amazing range of paces, rates and rhythms, and is super-responsive to many signals in the body. Discover all about the importance of having different heart rhythms.

WHAT IS THAT TICKLE IN YOUR THROAT?

Ryan Robinson

Everybody coughs, but have you ever thought about how and why we do? In this shop demo visitors to the Heart and Lung Repair Shop discovered why coughing is as much to do with your brain as it is your throat and find out how chilli or cold air start that tickling sensation in the back of your mouth.

 

MACHINES TO HELP THE HEART

Cesare Terracciano

For some damaged hearts, there is no possibility of repair. The only option is to replace the organ through a heart transplant. Often people waiting for a heart transplant have a machine put in their heart to help it pump. In this shop demo, find out more about these amazing devices.

STICKY AND SICKLY LUNGS
Mike Paul-Smith, Mike Waller, Lidia Cammack

Cystic fibrosis is a lung disease caused by a faulty gene. The lungs fill with sticky mucus and bacteria, which make it difficult to breathe. This shop demo will show some of the existing treatments for Cystic Fibrosis alongside the new scientific advances that may help people with cystic fibrosis in the future.

CELL DEATH FOR LIFE
Juan Sanchez

Stem cells are a very special type of cells. They can form any cell type in the body and also divide producing other cells exactly like them. We find stem cells at the beginning of life, in the embryo. This shop demo explored the processes that control these cells.

 

HOW TO FIX HAYFEVER – TREAT OR CURE
Stephen Durham, Mohamed Shamji

Hay fever affects one in four people in UK. Rather than just treat the symptoms, research at Imperial College has focused on a once daily tablet vaccine to provide a longterm cure. Visitors to The Heart and Lung Repair Shop discovered all about this immunotherapy approach in this shop demo.