The project started when we were asked to build a copy of DNA Dave ( https://www.openplant.org/dna-dave ), which is a prop for helping to explain about DNA with a very quirky and home made feel.
We felt that we could improve the user experience so added a visualisation of the full transcription process. You 'feed' some an RFID tag into her mouth which has some DNA code stored on it.
We were commissioned to build an exhibit for the Royal Society Summer Festival in 2017 by Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. They'd got some clear ideas about how the challenge activity they wanted to illustrate their work, and experimented with a prototype with 'chromosome' strings which participants folded to link genes (paperclips) with activation sites (more paperclips) so that the cell might be a red blood cell, a white blood cell, or might not be viable.
