Making Sense of our Sense of Smell - An Exhibition on Olfaction - exhibition

Student - Laura Haye

Supervisor - Dr Matt Grubb

This project was inspired by the work of the Grubb Lab (Centre for Developmental Neurobiology), which focuses on the activity-dependent plasticity of olfactory neurons. Since engaging the public with molecular biology research is difficult, I developed an exhibition on a more general topic: the sense of smell or olfaction. This exhibition will take place at the Science Gallery and will be divided into six rooms:

• Room 1: The importance of smell

• Room 2: What is olfaction (the science behind it)?

• Room 3: Olfaction, emotions and memory

• Room 4: Olfaction, emotions and behaviour

• Room 5: The application of research on olfactory neurons in medicine

• Room 6: Art and olfaction

Using various materials coming from both art and science, the exhibition will showcase the beauty of olfaction and how it works. It will include multiple interactive displays such as games, smell pods and a memory wall to engage the public and support their learning. The aim of this exhibition is to communicate the importance of olfaction to incite people to value this precious sense in their life and help them understand the importance of research in this domain and its various applications. It might even inspire some people to contribute to research on olfactory neurons!

Link to the exhibition e-portfolio on Padlet:

https://padlet.com/lauraxhaye/making-sense-of-our-sense-of-smell-qhrze8zfeaa2ndfn