Gut Microbiota:
The new frontier in medicine:
Gut microbiology is an emergent field of biomedical science with an enormous potential to affect the daily life of many (The Guardian, 2021). The importance of the gut microbiota goes far beyond the realms of digestion. The gut microbiota interaction goes into the areas of human experience as disparate as blood clotting, immunology or mental health (Ameringen et al., 2019). The moment, when I personally became fascinated by the subject was during my undergraduate dissertation. I have been researching, whether the autistic behavioral patterns can be explained by the observable brain changes alone. What emerged, was a pattern of broad white matter connectivity and development disruptions (Di et al., 2019). There seemed to be no unifying principle and not even a strong suspicion towards any particular cause of the disorder beyond vague notions of toxicity (Kearn et al., 2012). Parallels were drawn between the brain disruption caused by the Fetal Alcoholic Syndrome (FAS) and the mercury poisoning but no compelling case. Then, late at night in the university library I came across a paper implying the antibiotic abuse mechanism. A bacteria impervious to a particular antibiotic survives early antibiotic interventions and without competitors to keep its population balanced, reproduces past its safe concentration for a developing child's nervous system. It produces a secretion that causes a toxic insult to the brain not unlike that caused by ethanol or mercury. Strong correlation and co-occurrence were found in that paper and a study is cited, where a similar treatment was used to induce in mice a pattern of behavior, where a rodent would never develop an interest in other rodents. I tried to look up the particular paper years later, but I could not. Not because it got pulled down. It was because there were multiple papers, replicating similar experiments, reporting similar correlations (eg. Xu et al., 2019, ). I had recalled the wildly entertaining lectures about the "poop transplants" and their ability to combat autoimmune disorders (Gupta et al., 2016). There were other fascinating implications discussed, but it was the autism link that drove home my sense of wonder. Since then, I have become a keen reader of the literature within the field and the interconnected implications seem endless. In a way, with broadly the third (and locally often far more) of human metabolism being in fact faciliated by the bacteria (Treuren & Dodd 2020), and the bacterial cells outnumbering human cells both by mass and the DNA volume (Quin et al., 2010 ,Sender et al., 2016) we can see ourselves [humans] more as colonies of things rather than individuals. In my work I hope to share the sense of wonder with any curious reader.
Boardgames In Education:
Analgoue Learning in a Digital Age:
I have developed a personal interest in educational gaming, having myself long struggled with a learning disability. While quite scatterbrained and stubborn in the early classroom, a simple educational game made me quickly bridge the gap between me and my classmates, eventually to surpass them. This made me ultimately question, if a same person subjected to two different educational approaches can show such a starkly different outcome, how many people do we collectively leave behind?
In a primary education, such interventions are very common (Morsund, 2006), but what about higher education? What about communicating higher, conceptual science? During my Masters, I have investigated such questions both through my blogging attempts and my dissertation (Stachyra 2021).
My findings about communicating science through gaming can be summarised in a few pointers:
Keep the game enjoyable in its own right.
Do not impose a learning process on the target audience.
Point to primary and secondary sources.
Take liberties but do not contradict science.
With these in mind, I set about developing a boardgame that may possibly one day inspire some players to do their own research into the world of gut microbiology. I have chosen a board game for the social aspect of it; for my lack of coding skills and to thread the path less traveled. In my process I have participated in events organised by the Manchester Games Studies Network, consulted with medics and researchers.
Some of the inspirations I have taken from are the game Niche by Philomena Shwab and The Stray Fawn Studios (2017), for the uncompromising scientific accuracy, while retaining the fun factor; the cult classic Alpha Centauri (Firaxis, 1999) for its minimalist, yet deceptively deep storytelling; lastly, I took my idea of using dice as board pieces and having a modular board from the game Quantum by Eric Zimmerman. In particular, Zimmerman is a very articulate writer and interviewee, with a very clear and impressive though process. As an example, while initially I have considered, for example, removing the competitive aspect from the game. Through a mixture of my own playtesting experience and Zimmerman's argumentation, I have decided to forgo this idea and focus on a core, competitive game experience instead.
Putting it all together, I have decided upon the approach of minimalistic storytelling. Currently, it is being implemented in the game by QR codes on cards linking to both scientific and press articles, as well as invoking the narrative of players taking control over gut bacteria. The game implements multiple mechanisms reminiscent of the ecological interactions (eg. evolution can be achieved after losing half on players total bacteria - a mechanism of an evolutionary bottleneck). Initially, I have planned the game to focus on the broad "macro-world" ecology, but I decided it would be near-impossible to portray accurately the interaction between humans, animals and plant species. On the other hand, the enclosed ecosystem of the gut and the bacterial non-specificity (Microbial Functional Units rather than species (Qin et al., 2010 ,Senders et al., 2012) has proven itself a fitting background to explore a biome within a parameters of game. I have used my knowledge of gaming to create a compelling experience. As previously mentioned, informed by my prior research (Stachyra, 2021), I have decided upon focusing the weight of my project on the compelling gameplay. Secondly, the game had not to contradict science in the way it ran and neither in the incentivesit offered to players. My background in science allowed me to apply correct terminology to different strategies and adaptations the bacteria develop. I have based the science communication aspect purely within the narrative structure of the game (the artwork, the terminology, the "flavour texts"). In this way, the setting of the game - the characters and the story - became the science. In congruence with my developed model, I expose the player to the world of the microbiome and the characters that populate it, as to encourage the player to think about and to research it in their own time..
Such interaction would fall in congruence with a principle of Ludonarrative harmony (a congruence between the games story and gameplay) (Seraphine, 2018).
The project has proven challenging conceptually, logistically and in terms of fabrication, but overall I feel happy with my progress. In the nearest future, I would like to (in order) design a booklet and a box-set, run more playtests, release the game and then look for collaborators for future expansions. Until then, I am happy to answer any question and queries through my contact bar. Feel free to have a look at my development logs. Pawel
References:
Seal, R. (2021, July 11). Unlocking the gu microbiome and its massive significance to our health. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/11/unlocking-the-gut-microbiome-and-its-massive-significance-to-our-health
Van Ameringen, M., Turna, J., Patterson, B., Pipe, A., Mao, R. Q., Anglin, R., & Surette, M. G. (2019). The gut microbiome in psychiatry: A primer for clinicians. Depression and Anxiety, 36(11), 1004–1025. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22936
Di, X., Azeez, A., Li, X., Haque, E., & Biswal, B. B. (2018). Disrupted focal white matter integrity in autism spectrum disorder: A voxel-based meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging studies. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 82, 242–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.11.007
Kern, J. K., Geier, D. A., Audhya, T., King, P. G., Sykes, L. K., & Geier, M. R. (2012). Evidence of parallels between mercury intoxication and the brain pathology in autism. Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 72(2), 113–153.
Xu, M., Xu, X., Li, J., & Li, F. (2019). Association Between Gut Microbiota and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in psychiatry, 10, 473. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00473
Gupta, S., Allen-Vercoe, E., & Petrof, E. O. (2016). Fecal microbiota transplantation: in perspective. Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology, 9(2), 229–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756283X15607414
Van Treuren, W., & Dodd, D. (2020). Microbial Contribution to the Human Metabolome: Implications for Health and Disease. Annual review of pathology, 15, 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pathol-020117-043559
Sender, R., Fuchs, S., & Milo, R. (2016). Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body. PLoS biology, 14(8), e1002533. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533
(Qin et al., 2010)Qin, J., Li, R., Raes, J., Arumugam, M., Burgdorf, K. S., Manichanh, C., Nielsen, T., Pons, N., Levenez, F., Yamada, T., Mende, D. R., Li, J., Xu, J., Li, S., Li, D., Cao, J., Wang, B., Liang, H., Zheng, H., … Consortium, M. (2010). A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing. Nature, 464(7285), 59–65. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08821
Moursund, D. (2006). Introduction to Using Games in Education: A Guide for Teachers and Parents (Vol. 06).
Annetta, L. A. (2010). The “I’s” Have It: A Framework for Serious Educational Game Design. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018985
Stachyra, P. (2021). Your Knowledge Has Increased! - Gaming In Science Communication and Higher Education., MA Art in Science, Liverpool John Moores University.
Stray Fawn Studio (2017) ‘Niche: a Genetic Surivial Game’. Stray Fawn Studio. Available at: www.niche-game.com.
Firaxis Games (1999) ‘Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri’. Electronic Arts. Available at: https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri.
1. Seraphine, F. (2018) Ludonarrative Dissonance: Is Storytelling About Reaching Harmony. The University of Tokyo.
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