The word virus makes us instinctively think of not nice things, especially then the experience humanity had with the covid-19 pandemic, but there are hundreds of millions of viruses and only some of them are dangerous with varying degrees of severity: HIV, Ebola to name the best known.
The first thing to do in order to understand why viruses are not all bad, or better still only to a small extent, is to know about them. The subject matter is not simple, and it is important to make such a topic accessible to everyone, so it is necessary to translate complexity into clear messages that are presented in a comprehensive, interactive and informative manner.
This is the mission of the exhibition that opens today, 3 December 2024, and runs until 7 February 2025, at the Natural History Museum in Milan, an exhibition that has a unique characteristic: it is the fruit of close collaboration between science with the Institute of Biophysics in Milan of the National Research Council (IBF-CNR) and design with IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, which together have translated scientific knowledge into a highly usable form. Also collaborating in the project is the City of Milan, which has made available the hall inside the museum building, and a whole series of sponsors who will make the exhibition, which is exclusively through guided tours, completely free of charge.
The exhibition is an unprecedented and experiential journey into the nano-dimensions of viruses, biological entities that have coexisted with living species for billions of years. Known to cause disease, viruses are viruses are mostly harmless and some of them have played a role in evolution: suffice it to say that it is probably thanks to a virus that some primates (including humans) have lost their tails and that during gestation, they grow inside the mother’s body, in the placenta. Today, viruses are also used as healing tools.
The exhibition accompanies the public to discover the world of viruses with the aim of getting to know them and understand that they are not enemies to be defeated, but ancient biological entities, fascinating and, in part, yet to be explored. A world that the CNR has been studying for years and that, with the design and creative contribution of IED, is now approaching the general public. During the visit, dressing in the shoes of scientists, you will be able to take a close look at these invisible organisms of great scientific, medical and ecological interest.
“For us, it is great to be able to share with the general public the subject matter we work with every day,’ Monica Zoppè, a CNR researcher who, on the day of the inauguration, did not spare herself in illustrating to those present how viruses work, tells Startupbusiness. ‘In particular, the section of the exhibition that illustrates how research is developing to create systems capable of blocking the ability of viruses to reproduce and thus being able to intervene effectively and promptly when a harmful virus is present.
The collaboration between the Institute of Biophysics and IED was initiated more than a year ago when, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the National Research Council, an unprecedented interactive model of HIV on a scale of one to ten million was presented, created, following the indications of the CNR scientists, by IED scientists and designers. Today, with this exhibition, the scientific and content contribution of the CNR meets the design and creative contribution of IED, including graphic and visual design, illustration, product design, sound and interaction design.
Access to the nanoscopic world of viruses takes place through a corridor in which the visitor and the visitor make the journey through dimensions: at each step they imagine themselves 10 times smaller and smaller, until they find themselves as large as viruses. Once in this world, they can observe the large interactive model of HIV. The components of the model, the protagonist of the exhibition, represent the biological macromolecules of the virus and each of them is associated with a sound, creating a polyphony of the virus, an EnzỳmiÓrchestra. The sound aspect offers a poetic and metaphorical version of the concept of viral contagion: if touched by one person, the virus emits a sound; if the person who touches it takes another person by the hand, the sound is amplified, thus propagating as a chain of people in contact with each other, creating the chain of contagion.
The adjoining space narrates the variety of the viral world, with a collection of virus models enlarged a million times in order to appreciate the different shapes and sizes of some of the best-known species: Papilloma, Zika, Ebola, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Influenza Virus, Bacteriophage T4, Polio-virus and Adeno-Associated Virus. The role of viruses in the evolution of living beings will be illustrated through curiosities and examples, based on literature and scientific data: from ‘species jumps’ (spillover) to genomic recombinations that in the long run contribute to the diversification of species.
The next part of the pathway recounts the reproduction of viruses through the process of replication within a host cell. Using models of viral proteins, the research work carried out in the CNR’s IBF laboratories is illustrated: studying the details of these proteins to understand how they work in order to identify molecules capable of blocking their action. These studies aim to develop innovative drugs to control viral infections. This can be understood through interactive games that are also suitable for children, manipulating protein models to arrange them according to a symmetrical organisation, and identifying molecules that can interfere with their activity. The exhibition closes with a video illustrating the biotechnological steps that enable viruses to be used as vaccines and as vectors for gene therapy.
The exhibition is suitable for a wide and diverse audience, including school classes and families with children aged eight and up. The exhibition will be open from Tuesday to Sunday with access allowed only by guided tour. For information and bookings, please contact the museum’s infopoint or write to [email protected] and [email protected]. The visits, which will last approximately one hour, will be accompanied by professional guides from the Pleiadi Group and Coop Culture (professionals engaged in popularising experiences through exhibitions, workshops, school projects, editorial content, educational events and festivals) who will be able to answer the various questions that arise spontaneously in those who visit the exhibition. (photo: Federica Barbato)
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