All living organisms require energy to survive and thrive. In the Cellular Respiration simulation you will learn all about the smart ways your cells get the energy you need to keep moving, breathing and thinking. You’ll then use that knowledge to help your favourite soccer team with a new and improved training plan. Following that, you will perform respiratory experiments to understand how your body utilizes the energy and how that process can be optimized.

Design your experiment

As a scientist, one of the most important tasks you have is to design your experiments. In this simulation, you will learn how to make decisions about the best experimental strategies, which animal models you want to use and which experimental observables to focus on. Measuring energy consumption is not an easy task, and cellular respiration is a complex metabolic route. But no worries – your colleague Marie will join you in the simulation and help you out!

Perform respirometry experiments

You will perform respirometry experiments with mice, where you can control variables like how fast they run and the oxygen levels they are exposed to. You will use a respirometer to measure oxygen consumption, as well as a chip that will give you information about lactate and glucose blood levels. You will also use cyanide, as it can help you understand how ATP production depends on the oxidative phosphorylation process. And don’t worry, the mice are virtual and won’t be harmed.

Marie will guide you through the most important metabolic routes using detailed animations to make it easier to visualize the complex molecular components such as electron transport chain proteins or electrochemical gradients. She will also help you perform all these experiments really fast – much faster than is possible in real life.

Analyze your data and draw conclusions

After all the hard work, it’s time to take a look at the data you’ve gathered and draw conclusions. As a final part of the Cellular Respiration lab, you will use your results to write a report with advice for the coach of your soccer team.

Will that have an impact on the team’s achievements? And will you help them win the world cup this year?