Drug Discovery Hub at GERF 2025: Robots, cells, and curious minds

This year we returned to the Imperial College London Great Exhibition Road Festival (GERF) with our Robotic Cell Painting stand. Together with the Tate group, we set up in the Science Museum for a weekend of hands-on science engagement with visitors of all ages.

Our stand this year focused on two connected themes. The first was cell painting, a technique that uses fluorescent dyes and microscopy to reveal the internal structure of cells in striking visual detail. Visitors could see how cells look by microscopy-inspired artworks and real cell painting images.

The second theme was lab automation in drug discovery. We showed how robotic liquid handlers allow us to test thousands of compounds in a fraction of the time it would take manually, and how that speed is transforming the early stages of finding new medicines. Our "Race the Robot" competition enabled participants to understand the speed and precision.

Events like GERF are a valuable opportunity to share what academic drug discovery actually looks like: the instruments, the biology, and the slow, methodical work behind finding new treatments. It was great to engage with so many curious visitors and answer questions ranging from the very practical ("what does a robot do in a lab?") to the more fundamental ("how do you know when you've found the right molecule?").

Thank you

A big thank you to everyone who helped organise and run the stand, and to all the visitors who stopped by. We look forward to being back at GERF next year.