GENOME: The Secret of How Life Works is a national traveling museum
exhibit that provides an interactive and accessible look at the human genome.
The exhibit will answer common questions and correct frequently-held misconceptions
that surround the human genome, tackling topics such as genetic predetermination,
the nature of mutations and the very slight differences in genetic material
that separate one human being from another.
The 5,000 square-foot exhibit explores the human genome – a person's entire
set of genes – and explains the secret codes that make us who we are and that
influence who we might become. GENOME uses interactive displays, visually-rich
environments and family-friendly activities to reveal the mysteries of our genes,
delineate the last two centuries of discovery and unravel the implications of
gene therapy for the future of medical science and healthcare. The exhibit premiere
coincided with 2003's 50th anniversary of the modeling of the DNA double helix
structure.
The content of GENOME is organized into four sections: 1) The Secret
of You (entry); 2) The Secrets of Life; 3) Discovery; and 4) Living on the Frontier.
The Secret of You
The entrance introduces visitors to the importance of genes and to the remainder
of the exhibit. Visitors enter a circular corridor, encountering graphic and
mirror images of themselves in the initial stages of life, reflecting where
they were, and as a mature human being, reflecting who they are today. From
a mirror at the end of the tunnel emanates a swirling ribbon of genetic code,
representing the genes that hold the secrets to where they came from, who they
are, and who they may become.
The Secrets of Life
This highly interactive section explains what a gene, DNA, protein, and
cell are and how genes are involved in reproduction, growth and the maintenance
of life.
These are a few of the family-friendly displays found in "The Secrets of
Life":
• Giant double helix model. An 8-foot-tall, 25-foot-long genetic model of a
double helix offers a colorful visual study of the basics of DNA.
• Cell Explorer. A moveable flat video screen allows visitors to navigate a
large map of a cell and discover the workings of its parts and processes.
• The Cookie Factory. Animated cookie machine shows how a cookie company cranking
out cookies is a lot like a cell making proteins. Every day our cookie company
makes and delivers fresh cookies to stay in business. Every day our cells must
make proteins for your body to stay in business.
Discovery
This theatrical section presents the essential discoveries – and the passionate
people and remarkable stories behind them – that have made the world of genetic
research possible and have led to the sequencing of the entire human genome.
Gregor Mendel was a 19th-century monk who discovered the rules of inheritance
by cultivating peas in a monastery garden. Oswald Avery was a slight, shy Rockefeller
university researcher who, in the 1940s, indicated to everyone’s surprise that
DNA is the stuff of genes.
Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that DNA transforms cells through experiments
in an ordinary Waring blender. Jim Watson and Francis Crick, who in Cambridge
in the early 1950s, through equal parts inspiration, insight and opportunism,
made what has been called the most important biological discovery of the 20th
century: the form and process of genetic replication, the famous DNA double
helix.
Living on the Frontier
This section discusses the impact of genetic research and the Human Genome
Project on our lives. How are we changing the way we perform medical treatments,
solve crimes, produce food and drugs, etc.? Visitors can explore personal, family-oriented
topics and concerns.
Exhibit-goers can read personal stories about real people with genetic conditions
such as hemochromatosis, Huntington’s diseases and PKU. Visitors will learn
about the impact of genetic research in crime forensics and historical mysteries
solved through DNA testing.
Interactive videos allow visitors to confer with genetic counselors or design
new gene therapies at a computer, using genetic simulations that replace disease-causing
proteins with healthy new genes.
GENOME is made possible by Pfizer Inc and was produced by Evergreen Exhibitions
in collaboration with the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), a
division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Whitehead Institute/MIT
Center for Genome Research.