Science museums play an important role in science education, engaging the public with science concepts and building support for scientific research. Here, we describe Give Heart Cells a Beat, an interactive exhibit that lets museum visitors synchronize the beating of live stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes to their own heart rate in real time. The beat rate of cells accurately matched the beat rate of visitors and responded dynamically to changes such as exercise. Visitor evaluation revealed that engagement with the specimen prompted curiosity in heart biology and stem cells. Give Heart Cells a Beat is the product of a close collaboration between a museum and an academic research laboratory, and to our knowledge, it is the first interactive exhibit to use live human heart cells. We hope this exhibit serves as an example for the implementation of stem cell technology in informal science education and inspires future relationships between academia and public science venues.

中文翻译：

---

让心脏细胞跳动：一个互动博物馆展览，使干细胞衍生的心肌细胞与游客的心跳同步

科学博物馆在科学教育、向公众宣传科学概念以及为科学研究提供支持等方面发挥着重要作用。在这里，我们描述了“给心脏细胞一个节拍”，这是一个互动展览，可以让博物馆参观者将活干细胞衍生的心肌细胞的跳动与他们自己的心率实时同步。细胞的节拍频率与访客的节拍频率精确匹配，并对运动等变化做出动态反应。参观者的评价显示，与标本的接触激发了人们对心脏生物学和干细胞的好奇心。“让心脏细胞振作起来”是博物馆和学术研究实验室密切合作的产物，据我们所知，这是第一个使用活体人类心脏细胞的互动展览。我们希望这次展览能够成为干细胞技术在非正式科学教育中实施的典范，并激发学术界和公共科学场所之间未来的关系。