Discovery Center at Murfree Spring will host noted Georgia Tech and Emory University professor and researcher Dr. Manu O. Platt, Tuesday, June 16, in celebration of the museum's new exhibit: Human Plus: Real Lives, Real Engineering. Guests may tour the exhibit as well.
Discovery Center doors will open at 6 p.m. for light refreshments and a meet-and-greet with Dr. Platt, followed by his presentation at 6:30 p.m. The presentation is free and open to the public- sponsored in part by the Nashville section of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Dr. Platt studies the progression of disease in the human body, and has performed research to find out how we can better predict which patients will be at greater risk for disease, especially cancer. Why does cancer occur in some people and not in others? Why does the disease progress more quickly in some people, and more slowly in others? What happens in the body to help disease advance? What can we do about it?
Dr. Platt is an associate professor in the Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and will be discussing the technologies being developed in his lab to address the issue of patient-to-patient variability in disease progression, which continues to complicate clinical decisions in diagnosis and treatment. They investigate a powerful class of enzymes that participate in tissue-destructive disease progression such as metastatic cancer, HIV-mediated cardiovascular disease, and even strokes in children with sickle cell disease and are using experimental and computational methods to predict how bad the disease would be in a personalized way.
Discovery Center at Murfree Spring is a hands-on, environmental, cultural and educational museum for all ages. The 32,000-square-foot facility, in the heart of middle Tennessee, features programs and exhibits that promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math) education. A visit to Discovery Center encourages the explorer to grow through purposeful play. Discovery Center hosts more than 120,000 children and families annually who visit, explore the exhibits, and tour the urban wetlands.
Along with bringing in thought-provoking traveling exhibits, Discovery Center's permanent interactive galleries include a mini Farmer's Market, a Tiny Town, The Clark Maples Train Depot, a flight simulator, a two story Superslide, Water Works, an aquarium featuring Tennessee water critters, live animals, and the outdoor Nature Play. Adjacent to Discovery Center is the protected Murfree Spring wetlands with an elevated boardwalk providing walking views of a natural wetlands habitat home to ducks, herons, otters and muskrats. The Lily Pad Pond allows children to get up-close and personal with tadpoles, minnows, salamanders and more.
Regular Center hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. General admission is $6 for ages 2 and older, and free for members. Memberships begin at $75 for families. Multiple free days are held throughout the year. To learn more and find out about new and upcoming programs and events, call 615.890.2300 or visit explorethedc.org
