Dundee Science Centre’s ambitious £1.6 million expansion plans will bring to life some of the most exciting scientific advances being pioneered in the city.
The Wellcome Trust has awarded £850,000 towards the project which will focus on its two prime audiences visitors and learners.
There will be a new exhibition area focusing on non-invasive medical technologies and state-of-the-art learning facilities, including a lecture theatre and live links to Ninewells Hospital clinicians.
Dundee Science Centre, which attracts more than 70,000 visitors each year, is fundraising to fill the £540,000 funding gap required to bring the plans to fruition.
Plans have been drawn up by AIM Design Dundee, the award-winning architects, and it is hoped the work will start this autumn.
The new exhibition will allow visitors to discover how today’s medical therapies can be administered without scalpels and scars.
Robots, bubbles, ultrasound and lasers are all being developed at the Institute for Medical Science and Technology (IMSaT) in Dundee, and the exhibition will introduce visitors to the world of medical intervention beyond surgery.
The development will include a new surgical theatre space where keyhole surgery developed in Dundee by its global pioneer Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri will be demonstrated to the public and students on mock human torsos.
The public will be able to try their hand at keyhole surgery, and learners will be able to engage with a virtual autopsy in the form of a 3D table.
They will investigate how Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanning can be used to aid treatment.
As part of the Science Learning Institute, pupils, teachers and science learning professionals will be able to link live to Ninewells Hospital and to IMSaT using large screens in the theatre.
They will witness surgeons and clinicians training in the use of technology and be able to question the operators of the equipment.
Centre chief executive Louise Smith said: “We are hugely excited to be planning this major expansion which will add tremendous value to the visitor experience but also cement our deserved reputation as a hub for science learning and public engagement.
“The mind-blowing exhibition space will trace the development of technologies in medicine and tell a very human story about their impacts on life and society.”
The expansion will see a mezzanine extension for the Science Learning Institute, with an 80-seat lecture theatre and other facilities.