Explore the intricacies of the immune system and gene therapy at this year’s Bloomsbury Festival

This October sees a unique opportunity for Londoners to participate in an immersive art installation based on a young Great Ormond Street Hospital patient’s experiences of gene therapy treatment.In Isolation, by artist Sofie Layton, is a sensory installation taking place as part of the NIHR Great Ormond Street Biomedical Research Centre’s Open Day, 15 October 2016, and London’s Bloomsbury Festival from 19– 23 October 2016. It explores the visual landscape and intricacies of the immune system and what it’s really like for young patients to be treated in isolation for immune disorders which have left them unable to fight off infections.

Great Ormond Street Hospital runs more gene therapy trials for immune deficiency in children than any other centre in the world and to date, 45 children have been treated on gene therapy clinical trials at the hospital.

The installation will be open for the GOSH BRC Open Day, a free family event exploring medical research and how it improves child health, on Saturday 15 October 2016.

Members of the public can then view In Isolation as part of the Bloomsbury Festival, from 19–23 October 2016, for free, at the Octav Botnar entrance to Great Ormond Street Hospital on Lambs Conduit Street.

These tours take place every half hour from Wednesday to Sunday, 11–1pm and 2– 4pm. Places are limited and can be booked by calling the Bloomsbury Festival Box Office on 020 3108 1000.

In Isolation is a one-off project developed during a year-long arts research project based at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Under the Microscope. This explored how children and their families understand disease- in a series of exhibitions and installations made in partnership with clinicians, researchers, patients and their families.

Artist Sofie Layton said: “Working with the patients, parents, clinicians and scientists at GOSH was an extraordinary privilege and very inspiring experience. I look forward to sharing the culmination of my residency with a new audience as part of Bloomsbury Festival!”

Head of GO Create, Susie Hall, said: “We are delighted that this beautiful and poetic installation inspired by patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital will be accessible to the public as part of the Bloomsbury festival. Arts in health projects can have a powerful impact as well as showcasing the highest quality art.”

In Isolation, sees a partnership between artist Sofie Layton, the GO Create! arts programme, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the UCL GOS Institute for Child Health and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.