project. VIMIBI

project description. 

Microfluidics has been instrumental in shaping microbiological single cell approaches in academic research over the past decades. The technology allows thousands of cells to be monitored under defined environmental conditions, using microscopy as a readout device. Most laboratories use, in addition to microscopy, customised and home-built designs and devices for microfluidics research to conduct the experiments. This circumstance leads to a wide variety of possible setups for conducting a microfluidic experiment and thus makes it difficult to communicate the processes, procedures and operations to students and interested parties.

The Virtual Reality (VR) technology can provide a solution to this problem by reducing the complexity of the processes through visualization. By immersing themselves in the respective processes or components, users can learn and understand the interrelationships by means of the technology "on the object", which is considerably difficult to comprehend through 2D elements and drawings. Furthermore, the approach offers the possibility to interact within the virtual environment and thus to influence the simulation or the course of the processes, which can increase the learning effect.

The X-Student Research Group project VIMIBI therefore aims to answer the question of the extent to which VR can contribute to making complex biological processes and techniques comprehensible through 3D animations, and to evaluate whether VR environments can have a positive effect on the planning and execution of experiments in the laboratory. In a first step, the necessary core components of the experimental environment and biological processes are created and animated. Subsequently, the 3D models and animations will be integrated into a VR environment that enables students and interested parties to interact in the individual phases of the experiment. The project is a joint project of the AG Biological Physiology of HU Berlin and the Chair of Information and Communication Management of TU Berlin and is funded by the X-Student Research Groups Programme of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA).

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