Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Stem Cell Reports. 2024 Mar 12;19(3):426-433. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2024.01.004. Epub 2024 Feb 8.
Science museums play an important role in science education, engaging the public with science concepts and building support for scientific research. Here, we describe Give Heart Cells a Beat, an interactive exhibit that lets museum visitors synchronize the beating of live stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to their own heart rate in real time. The beat rate of cells accurately matched the beat rate of visitors and responded dynamically to changes such as exercise. Visitor evaluation revealed that engagement with the specimen prompted curiosity in heart biology and stem cells. Give Heart Cells a Beat is the product of a close collaboration between a museum and an academic research laboratory, and to our knowledge, it is the first interactive exhibit to use live human heart cells. We hope this exhibit serves as an example for the implementation of stem cell technology in informal science education and inspires future relationships between academia and public science venues.
科学博物馆在科学教育中发挥着重要作用，用科学概念吸引公众，为科学研究赢得支持。在这里，我们描述了一个互动展品——让心脏细胞跳动，它让博物馆参观者实时将活的干细胞衍生的心肌细胞的跳动与自己的心率同步。细胞的跳动率与参观者的跳动率精确匹配，并对运动等变化做出动态响应。参观者的评估结果显示，对标本的参与激发了他们对心脏生物学和干细胞的好奇心。让心脏细胞跳动是博物馆和学术研究实验室密切合作的产物，据我们所知，这是第一个使用活的人类心脏细胞的互动展品。我们希望这个展览能为在非正式科学教育中实施干细胞技术提供一个范例，并激发学术界和公共科学场馆之间未来的合作关系。
