Datarama - Newcastle Upon Tyne

Part of the One Cell At A Time creative engagement programme, inspired by the Human Cell Atlas

Led by: Stacey Pitsillides in collaboration with Dominic Smith.

Datarama is a friendly, online social get together for makers, artists, scientists and people doing interesting things with technology. All are welcome, if you don’t think you fit into those categories, but you are interested, please feel free to join us. If you are considering a career in any of these areas, come along and see what people are doing. The goal is to support and encourage each other’s projects.

Turn up if you have something to share or feel welcome to lurk if you are simply curious.

You can let us know in advance if you would like to share a project you are working on, something you are making or an idea you need some help with. But you can also join the session and let us know if you have something you would like to share and we will fit you in. 

Please contact: Dominic Smith via email at dominic.j.smith@gmail.com If you have something you want to share or have any questions.

This edition of Datarama is inspired by central questions related to the scientific research of the Human Cell Atlas, such as “What does it mean to be normal?” and “What influences peoples’ value and trust in research involving tissue donation and open access data?”

Artists Stacey Pitsillides will be sharing the art and science participatory projects that they are making for the One Cell At A Time creative engagement programme, in response to the research of the Human Cell Atlas.

We will also be revealing some details of our upcoming virtual Maker Jam: From Donor to Data challenge on 10 – 18 June 2021*.

What is the Human Cell Atlas?

The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is an international collaborative consortium which is creating comprehensive reference maps of all human cells—the fundamental units of life—as a basis for understanding human health and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease.

The body has 37 trillion cells, and the HCA is looking to create a human ‘Google map’, which researchers can zoom into to understand every human cell type, across time from development to old age.

The HCA is revolutionising our understanding of biology and disease. This new knowledge on cellular mechanisms will lead to new diagnostics and treatments and transform future healthcare.

The HCA was co-founded in 2016 by Dr Sarah Teichmann at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK) and Dr Aviv Regev, then at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (USA). A truly global initiative, there are now more than 2,000 HCA members, from 75 countries around the world.

What is One Cell At A Time?

One Cell at a Time is an ambitious programme of public, creative engagement activities, inspired by the Human Cell Atlas, bringing together arts and communities, patients and researchers.

Funded by Wellcome and led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, One Cell at a Time will engage the public with the Human Cell Atlas project and deepen public understanding of the revolutionary impact it will have on our understanding of the human body.

One Cell at a Time is running a series of events, artist commissions and creative workshops to connect communities with artists and scientists located across four areas of England: Cambridge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, London and Oxford.

The public engagement programme is funded by Wellcome Trust Grant 218597/Z/19/Z

*The One Cell At A Time (OCAAT) Maker Jam: From Donor to Data

The OCAAT Maker Jam is a big, exciting online get together for people who are interested in working with the OCAAT artists to develop a project inspired by the Human Cell Atlas. It will start on the 10th June and finish on the 18th June with a choice of challenges set by the OCAAT commissioned artists. You will get the chance to work as part of a team or as an individual and share your work as you go. It will be a social, online project where you will learn more about the Human Cell Atlas and work with others to rise to the One Cell At A Time Challenges.

The week will also include:

–          streamed talks by members of the Human Cell Atlas community including biologists, clinicians, technologists, physicists, computational scientists, software engineers, and mathematicians.

–          talks and support from the project artists.

–          workshops around the skills and technologies relating to each project.