Inflammania 3D – Catch me if you can: The CAR T Cell Solution
Challenge:
The metaverse is becoming increasingly important as it has the potential to revolutionise various industries, including games, entertainment and
commerce, but also to revolutionise education by providing new avenues for collaboration, creativity and economic growth. Accordingly, metaverse platforms such as Roblox offer an unexplored medium for science communication. As part of the CRC1181 research project, several interconnected 3D mini-games will be developed that will form the basis of a virtual, educational world where players will immerse themselves in the fascinating world of the immune system to understand inflammatory mechanisms
and impart knowledge about the latest research. For this, a proof of concept was needed, which was to be created in the seminar “Understanding and Designing the Metaverse” on the basis of the following challenge:
Design a cooperative gameful simulation in Roblox in which the players take over the role of the immune system of a patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) in the novel and revolutionary CAR T-cell therapy developed as part of this FAU research project
Date: Wintersemester 2022/2023
Seminar: Understanding and Designing the Metaverse
Project results:
Inflammania 3D – Catch me if you can: The CAR T Cell Solution
Team: Rebecca Greiner, Simon Merk, Sylvie Reis, Jonathan Stief, Corinna Wüllner
Abstract:
3D metaverse platforms like Roblox have been popularized in various fields as they facilitate the creation of social and immersive experiences. Especially in the context of science communication, however, they still possess a wealth of untapped potential as they could make complex scientific topics more tangible and easier to grasp. Because this potential has so far hardly been explored, we developed a game that transfers knowledge about the autoimmune disease SLE and the newly developed “CAR T-Cell” treatment for it, to examine how it is perceived by users.
“What is SLE?”
It is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect various organs and systems in the body. In systemic lupus erythematosus, the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues, leading to inflammation and damage. Symptoms of SLE can vary widely from person to person but may include fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes (often in a butterfly pattern across the cheeks and nose), fever, chest pain, hair loss, mouth ulcers, and sensitivity to sunlight. SLE can also affect internal organs such as the kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain, leading to complications in some cases.The novel CAR T-Cell therapy however allows these patients to properly treated for the first time.
During the project a prototype was developed in ROBLOX, that immerses player into the body of a patient, to fight off corrupted B-Cells which reap havoc in the body, causing severe inflammations, that cause the severe impairments for the patients.
For a first evaluation, we conducted user testings in the form of think-aloud protocols and a survey to investigate whether first users enjoy and are immersed into the game and whether they feel they are learning through such an approach. Within the early stage of our research, it has become apparent that games for immersive metaverse platforms have the potential to convey complex scientific knowledge in a fun and understand-able wayand should be investigated further.
