Annual Review 2018-19

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C E N T R E FO R L I F E

Annual Review 2018 - 19 Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4EP life.org.uk

It’s been another busy year at Life. As an avid BBC Radio 4 listener for 30 years, a personal highlight was Rory Cellan-Jones making the trip from London to cover our visitor research on regional accents in robotics for BBC Radio Four’s PM programme. The robots themselves, meanwhile, were a firm hit with our visitors, with more than 100,000 people coming to marvel at 500 years of automated machines – a remarkable number given last summer was the hottest on record for the UK! This year we tried out some new experiences to attract new audiences, including Pink Floyd nights in the planetarium and yoga classes by a seven-metre-wide Moon artwork. The ticket sales and visitor feedback from these events has given us a strong indication that there is an appetite for using the science centre to create unique experiences for adult audiences – so watch this space!

Linda Conlon Chief Executive, International Centre for Life The Newcastle Fertility Centre continues to provide excellent care for fertility patients.

As part of the Newcastle Hospitals Trust, we see several thousand individuals each year through their investigations and fertility treatment, as well as gamete donation, fertility preservation and avoidance of mitochondrial disease. Our world class R&D programme runs hand-in-hand with clinical work, keeping our patients at the centre of what we do.

Dr Jane A Stewart Head of Department, Newcastle Fertility Centre

2018 was an exciting year for all of us in the Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM). To mention a few highlights, there were major breakthroughs in our understanding of Joubert syndrome (a rare kidney disease) and in 3D printing the human cornea. In addition, the large investment in genomics technology resulted in the start of several large-scale genomics as well as single cell studies, often making use of the unique IGM-based human developmental biology resource. Equally exciting, or arguably even more so, at the end of the year the first gene therapy trials in spinal muscular atrophy started at IGM, aiming to improve life for patients with this severely debilitating disease.

I was very proud that important research at IGM has been shared with the public: the BBC came to Life to highlight the important work of the ‘Tyneside Genetic Pioneers’ to celebrate 70 years of the NHS, and a video about 3D human cornea printing went viral on YouTube, attracting 80,000 views!

Professor Joris Veltman Director, Institute of Genetic Medicine

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The International Centre for Life opened in 2000 and there’s nowhere else in the world quite like it!

Year in numbers 1,000,000 people came to Life for different

reasons; some visited the science centre, others received NHS treatment or conducted genetics research – and some came to party the night away!

230,000 visitors to Life Science Centre!

120,000 left in awe of the cosmos after visiting Life’s planetarium.

106,000

people explored Robots: then and now, created by the Science Museum, on its first visit to the North East.

100,000 people came to events held in Times Square, including a World Cup ‘fan zone’, a Christmas market and an outdoor ice rink.

51,000 educational experiences delivered by Life,

including school visits to the science centre for curriculumlinked workshops, outreach activities and Science Club events held on Sunday afternoons.

44,000 people used Life Meetings and Events for

conferences, launches, parties and weddings – all revenue raised helps Life to fulfil its mission.

21,000 people visited Life Science Centre during

the two-week Easter school holidays – an impressive 10% increase on its previous record for the Easter break.

1,600 under-5s

started their journey of scientific discovery at Life’s special pre-school days.

625 hours of sunshine in the UK in the meteorological summer of 2018 – and it was also the hottest on record.

250 babies were born with the help of the NHS Newcastle Fertility Centre.

43 Meet the Expert days offered visitors the chance to

hear about cutting-edge science and technology first hand.

10 minutes is all it takes to 3D-print a human cornea in

groundbreaking research by Newcastle University scientists at Life. (See page 4 for more information.)

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APRIL – SEPTEMBER

Maker Faire UK went out with a bang!

In 2009, Life Science Centre brought Maker Faire to the UK and is proud to have been pioneers in the growing Maker movement in the UK. However, the time is right to make a change, so last April’s Maker Faire UK was the final one to be hosted by Life – and what a belter it was!

The two-day festival of crafting, coding and garden shed inventing welcomed more than 450 Makers who shared their creative talents with the public. Visitors were invited to have a go at crafts like blacksmithing, glass blowing and ‘painting with light’ on an electronic graffiti wall.

Lovers of all things making needn’t fear, though, as we’re opening the Making Studios in Life Science Centre in the spring of 2019 – a new permanent exhibition and two-storey studio space that can better meet the needs of visitors on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Our future robot overlords descended on Newcastle The blockbuster exhibition Robots – then and now, developed by the Science Museum in London, came to the North East for the first time in May. During its 6-month run at Life Science Centre, 106,000 visitors enjoyed the 500-year story of building automated machines – that certainly warrants giving Pepper the Robot a high five!

Running alongside the exhibition, Life organised a programme of robot-themed late events for adults. The first event was a debate on the rise of the sex robots, with a panel line-up that included the inventor of the sex robot ‘Samantha’, the founder of Campaign Against Sex Robots and a ‘sexual futurologist’. The panellists made some interesting points about objectifying women, sexual consent and tackling loneliness.

Maria ©WSM Art – Walter Schulze-Mittendorff

Printed in the blink of an eye In May, Newcastle University scientists at Life announced they had created the first 3D-printed human corneas. The proof-ofconcept research demonstrated how stem cells from a healthy donor cornea can be mixed together with alginate (a type of carbohydrate found in seaweed) and collagen to create a solution that can be printed – a ‘bio-ink’. Using a simple low-cost 3D bioprinter, the bio-ink was successfully printed in concentric circles to form the shape of a human cornea. It took less than 10 minutes to print. ©Newcastle University UK

The story grabbed headlines and was listed in the top 10 mostread health stories in the Financial Times in 2018.

Tyneside’s Genetic Pioneers To mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, the BBC broadcasted a week-long series of programmes in June on prime-time TV. The final episode, called How the NHS Changed our World: Tyneside’s Genetic Pioneers, was solely about research and treatment at Life.

The documentary focussed on the two on-site NHS clinics, the Newcastle Fertility Centre and the Northern Genetics Service, as well the medical advances being made thanks to research from Newcastle University scientists at Life.

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World Cup fever in Times Square Times Square at Life is one of the largest open-air spaces to hire in Newcastle City Centre, making it a prime location to host a World Cup ‘fan zone’ last summer. Thousands of fans gathered to see if football really was ‘coming home’ this year. Sadly, that wasn’t to be. But the fan zone continued to be popular and filled Life with a festival-like energy for several weeks. ©Newcastle Chronicle

Making a show of science Life’s public engagement team wrote, developed and performed (in the science centre’s in-house theatre) four shows – The Secret World of Gases, Great Geordie Bridges, How to be an Evil Genius and Kitchen Science – to audiences totalling more than 60,000.

Great Geordie Bridges was developed to celebrate the 2018 Year of Engineering, the 200th anniversary of the Institution for Civil Engineers and the 90th anniversary of the iconic Tyne Bridge.

Whey-AI: visitor research on regional accents in robotics Life hit the headlines in August for a visitor survey that revealed that 79% of people surveyed with regional accents regularly alter the way they speak to be understood by personal digital assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.

More than 500 visitors took part in the iPad-based survey after visiting the Robots – then and now exhibition, which also revealed that nearly half of respondents are concerned that greater use of automated voice recognition in our homes may eradicate regional accents.

The alternative prom An ‘alternative prom’ was held at Life in August for care leavers and other young people who missed out on attending an end of school celebration for various reasons, including financial pressures. Many local businesses and community groups – including a florist, hairdressers, a dressmaker and a DJ – came together to give the youngsters the special night that they all deserve.

ChronicleLive

Life hosted a robotics forum for gifted students Life held a forum on robotics in September for gifted students in upper-sixth to learn more about advanced robotics and to debate the ethical questions that surround the use of robots in everyday life.

At the forum the students agreed statements aimed at medical professionals, technologists, engineers, policy makers and the general public. These statements have now been sent to both the Institute of Engineering and Technology and the Royal College of Surgery to provide a much-needed youth voice in deciding future policies on medical robots.

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O CTO B E R – M A R C H

#RobotHopes

#RobotFears

From housework robots to homicidal machines At the start of November, an evening panel chaired by Matt Ridley, Life’s Honorary President, focussed on people’s hopes and fears for our future with robots.

The panel discussion was the culmination of a long-running Life campaign that focussed on how robots polarise popular opinion. Earlier in the campaign, a video booth was installed at the exit of the Robots – hopes and fears exhibition to capture visitors’ hopes and fears about robots, and a selection of these recordings was played at the panel discussion.

Festive season at Life Life’s seasonal outdoor ice rink made a welcome return in November, running through to the end of the February half-term holidays. Adding to the festive atmosphere, a Christmas village opened in Times Square, with traditional German street food huts, chestnuts roasting on a log fire and a Bavarian beer hall. ©The Christmas Village

From genomics research to medical treatment In December, the John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre, which is hosted by NHS Northern Genetics Service at Life, opened the first gene therapy trial for spinal muscular atrophy in Newcastle.

Spinal muscular atrophy is a severe neuromuscular disease characterised by the loss of motor neurons, leading to progressive muscle weakness and paralysis. The most severe form of the disease results in mortality or the need for permanent ventilation support within the first two years of life for more than 90% of patients.

It is hoped that the new treatment, which is now available at the Great North Children’s Hospital, may alter the disease course and improve the outcome for patients.

Life Science Centre gives new life to political puns Life was the backdrop for a BBC news segment about Brexit for the national News at Six and News at Ten programmes broadcast in November.

The BBC team chose Newcastle because the result of the referendum in the city was almost a 50/50 split for leave and remain – and Life’s ice rink was the perfect setting for some great political puns (including the obligatory reference to being on thin ice, of course!).

Life visitors were interviewed against a backdrop of exhibitions, leading to the kind of website spikes we usually see after major ad campaigns!

Gene editing potential for personalised treatment for kidney disease In November, a team of scientists led by Professor John Sayer from Newcastle University’s Institute of Genetic Medicine announced they have identified how to halt kidney disease in a life-limiting genetic condition called Joubert syndrome.

Joubert syndrome is a brain disorder that causes varying degrees of physical, mental and sometimes visual impairments.

The condition affects approximately one in 80,000 newborns, and one third also develop kidney failure.

The new study found it is possible to use a strand of engineered DNA to trick the cells’ own editing machinery to bypass the gene mutation that causes kidney damage, paving the way for personalised treatment.

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North East Better Health at Work Award In January, Life received bronze level accreditation under the North East Better Health at Work, a scheme for employers promoted by the NHS. This was in recognition of the work undertaken over the previous 12 months in promoting a healthy working environment. Amongst other initiatives, Life ran three campaigns covering mental health awareness, promoting healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise and support for employees to stop smoking.

Massive, mesmerising and magnificent!

The internationally-acclaimed artwork Museum of the Moon opened at Life on 2 February. As a host venue, Life is in good company: the artwork has recently been presented at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and in Aarhus, Denmark, for the European Capital of Culture. Museum of the Moon features a seven-metre-wide sphere that is suspended in the air and is a fusion of NASA lunar imagery, moonlight and a surround-sound composition.

A programme of evening events for adults was developed, including yoga sessions by the Moon and planetarium nights featuring Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

Love you to the Moon and back It doesn’t get more romantic than holding your wedding under the stars in a planetarium and then having your reception by the Museum of the Moon artwork, so it’s easy to see why this cosmic wedding was front-page news of the local newspaper, The Chronicle, on Valentine’s Day.

Big questions by a massive Moon The eminent physicist Paul Davies had visitors pondering big questions, like ‘what is life?’ and ‘how did life begin?’, at a science lecture held at Life in February. An audience of 160 gathered for the talk, organised for the tour for his new book, The Demon in the Machine. The evening ended with a nightcap by the Museum of the Moon as Professor Davies signed copies of his book.

Nigel John

British Science Week motivated new outreach initiative To mark British Science Week in March, staff from Life Science Centre joined volunteers from African Community Advice North East (ACANE) and members of the public at Byker Community Centre in Newcastle for an educational workshop. Life has a long history of outreach work in the West End of Newcastle, but this is the first event aimed at engaging communities in the East End, which shares similar challenges in terms of socio-economic deprivation.

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The International Centre for Life is governed by a Board of Trustees who contribute their time and expertise to help Life fulfil its mission.

ALASTAIR BALLS CB DL Chair

FIONA CRUICKSHANK OBE

COUNCILLOR IRIM ALI Legal assistant and elected councillor for the Wingrove Ward in Newcastle

Angel investor and non-executive director, pharmaceutical manufacturing businesses

ANDREW HODGSON OBE

PROFESSOR PATRICK HUSSEY

Chair, North East Local Enterprise Partnership

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Science), Durham University

LIZ MAYES

PROFESSOR JANE ROBINSON

Chief Executive, The Common Room of the Great North

Dean of Engagement and Place, Newcastle University

PROFESSOR ROY SANDBACH OBE

PAUL SMITH

President, Royal Society of Chemistry Industry Council

Technology entrepreneur and writer

PROFESSOR JORIS VELTMAN Director, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University

LUCY WINSKELL OBE DL Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Employability and Partnerships), Northumbria University

Former Trustees (active during the financial year 2018-19): CLIVE COOKSON Science Editor, Financial Times

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PROFESSOR RICHARD DAVIES Pro-Vice-Chancellor, (Engagement and Internationalisation), Newcastle University

DR STEVEN GATER Retired headteacher and science teacher