Data or distraction? Microscopes or misdirection? Breakthrough or breakdown?
Following a successful run of #TheCellEscape, our cell signalling themed escape room, at the Cambridge Science Festival in March 2019, we were really pleased to be invited to the Faraway Forest, Suffolk for Latitude Festival 2019. With a few words of advice from our researchers, the participating teams had to master laboratory techniques and solve scientific puzzles to untangle the mysteries to help their cells survive - but did they manage to complete the signalling pathway in time for their cells to launch a counter attack?
A team of six intrepid researchers (including the winners of the 2019 Public Engagement Prize) ran the Escape Room 28 times in four days and had conversations about cell signalling, careers in research and the Babraham Institute with well over 600 people. We had a waiting list of over 30 teams and calculated we had enough interest to run four escape rooms non-stop for the whole weekend!
We're grateful to the Biochemical Society for a Public Engagement grant to help support the exhibit. Congratulations to all the teams who took part, especially Brilliant Builds who topped the leaderboard with an amazing time of 24 minutes and 47 seconds!