Casey Alexander, Melissa Sandoval, Bowen Li
Instructor: Luisa Caldas, TA: Vedant Saran, Stephanie Daffara Spring 2019
The project springs from a collaboration with the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), a bioengineering research institute lead by Prof. Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley. We created an immersive Virtual Reality game-like environment where players can engage on genome editing experiments inspired by CRISPR technology. The VR experience psrogresses through a series of narratives. Some are based on actual 360 footage collected at the IGI, offering users a virtual tour of the bioengineering labs, witnessing scientists at work and listening to short scientific presentations. Other aspects of the game are mainly experiential, allowing users to explore a rendered nanoworld where they can float over a nanotube forest or take a roller coaster into the interior of a cell. Once inside the cell, the focus is now on interaction: this journey will guide the player into a nanoscale actor, performing gene editing and seeing its instantaneous effects on the surrounding nanotube forest.