SciLifeLab researchers contribute to interactive 3D COVID-19 exhibition

SciLifeLab Fellow Alexey Amunts (Stockholm University) and his team have been collecting and interpreting newly available cryo-EM datasets to be used in a virtual interactive 3D exhibition about COVID-19. The datasets were dissected into different levels of information and sent to Interspectral AB, the company who then creates the 3D presentation. The goal is to facilitate communication of complex data to the public in an attractive and educative way.

“At SciLifeLab, we helped dissect complex molecular data as part of a larger team effort collaborating on different levels of information for educational purposes. The interactive 3D mode can help explain those complex data in an accurate and accessible way for the general public”, says Alexey Amunts.

The exhibition is designed to visualize the molecular process of the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and its consequences. It uses a unique platform employing interactive multi-touch display tables and the visualization combines four different types of research datasets on COVID-19: the SARS-CoV-2 virus architecture, the atomic structure of the spike protein, influenced human lungs, and global aspects of the pandemics. Together, they form a learning tool aiming to provide a basic understanding of the virus and the disease by sorting out the new information that has become available since the pandemic started.

Interspectral AB specializes in providing 3D learning experience for museums and educational centers through multi-touch display tables designed as the target platform for interaction. The exhibiting displays are presented, among others, in the British Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. The cooperation with SciLifeLab has allowed the most advanced data to be communicated in a timely manner, which makes a valuable contribution to the society.

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