BILLINGS — On Friday, Feb. 14, nursing students at MSU-Billings had the opportunity to try out the prototype for a new virtual reality game, MedMicroMaps.
MedMicroMaps allows students to see and interact with microbes, bacteria, viruses and cells. It's a project that's currently in development but set to be released to the public in March.
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While in the virtual space, the user can physically grab onto bacteria or cells and examine them up close. The object of the game is to cure a patient with a sore throat. The user must spray antibiotics onto bacteria seven times to replicate the seven days of taking antibiotics when having Strep Throat.
There's also an opportunity for the user to learn about microbiology through artificial intelligence. The user can ask a bacteriophage or avatar any question about microbes and will receive a response.
The idea for MedMicroMaps came to fruition during the pandemic. Microbiologist and co-founder Jane Harrington, Ph.D. was teaching life sciences to students through a webcam and found it was ineffective without hands-on experience.
"As an educator, I love teaching and I love microbes. And I found that me just talking to students, it was ineffective, especially for people who have processing disorders such as ADHD or autism... Because if someone's not enjoying an experience, they're not going to be learning," Harrington said.
Harrington and her husband, Ian Holyoak, created the game together with a team of six.
"It's a fun project, and everybody that's on the team is having fun working on it. So, it's produced some good results. We want to change the world," Holyoak told MTN.
The physical development for the prototype took Harrington and Holyoak two years.
Holyoak, the chief technology officer, told MTN he taught himself how to program and develop the game.
"Technology that we're putting together, really, is not there yet. So, we have to invent as we go," he said.
The overall goal of MedMicroMaps is to be used in classrooms across the globe, with all age groups.
"Everyone, we really want to have that enjoyment," Harrington said.
In September, the two received a small business research grant for $274,000 from the U.S. National Science Foundation. With this money, they developed Phase 1 of the project. The two are currently seeking a secondary grant to further develop the game, with an additional 250 microbes and more patient sicknesses.
In the meantime, Harrington and Holyoak are traveling to universities across the country to introduce MedMicroMaps to students studying life sciences.
"We're going to take a very grassroots approach to this project," Holyoak said.
Because they live in Billings, Harrington and Holyoak gave MSU-B students first crack at trying the game.
"I think it'll be really cool, 'cuz I'm a very visual learner. So, just being able to touch things that are not touchable, 'cuz they're so small (will help my learning)," said student Ellie Benson.
"It definitely improves learning. Being able to see it in another perspective and actually understand what's going on in things we can't actually see with our eyes, it's amazing," said freshman Alyssa Robertus.
