As microbiologists, we are privileged to be able to envisage the microscopic world of bacteria and viruses that are seemingly invisible. We wanted to find a way to show non-specialists how phages can influence bacterial communities differently in the body. Together with immersive art practitioners, we co-created an immersive journey through the lungs of someone with cystic fibrosis.

You enter through the bronchus and then choose paths through the bronchioles where you can find multiple different bacteria that inhabit these airways. By increasing the magnification you join the microbial communities and watch how phages infect their target bacteria in one of with three very different alternative outcomes.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacteria found in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis. It is an opportunistic pathogen, that usually lives in soil or water, but can cause chronic infections that are very difficult to treat.

Some bacteriophages have been used to kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in cystic fibrosis lung infections. but Others bacteriophages have formed partnerships with these bacteria, helping them to survive better in the lungs.

VR-Airways was created in Unreal by Artist Paul Miller with technical input from Richard England of Reflex Arc. And scientific input from Chloe James (University of Salford),

Heather Allison and Jo Fothergilll (University of Liverpool) and Belinda Cupid (The Cystic Fibrosis Trust).