# Visceral VR: Immersive Human Biology for the Study of Health and Disease

> **NIH NIH R44** · LIGHTHAUS, INC. · 2020 · $687,019

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: VISCERAL VR
Basic nutrition information often comes in the form of bland, abstract words and numbers on a
food label – a label many consumers ignore. Lighthaus’s Visceral VR aims to bring nutrition to
life by harnessing the power of virtual reality (VR) to pioneer an immersive, interactive
approach to teaching the science of nutrition to high school students. With Visceral, students
can follow a meal from the first bite to the last molecule, travelling through the digestive system
into the small intestine, where they can break the food down into molecular nutrients to explore
what’s “healthy” and what isn’t -- and see whether those molecules are delivered to cells for
energy or stored as fat. Visceral gives students a gut-level understanding of the relationship
between food and health.
Lighthaus’s VR-based immersive science and health curricula are designed to engage students
in exciting, transformative experiences that challenge them to apply scientific thought and
practice to develop theories based on first-hand experimentation in in VR. We believe these
embodied experiences in science can inspire a new generation of students to pursue careers in
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Our project will evaluate science-based VR curriculum's ability to spark student interest in
STEM careers, as well as the effect it has on their retention of health-related knowledge they can
use for crucial lifelong diet and nutrition decisions.
We will conduct a series of usability and feasibility studies with high school science students,
followed by a randomized control trial (RCT) to test the hypothesis that student use of Visceral
can have an effect on students’ health and physiology content knowledge, students’ attitudes
towards nutrition and diet, and students’ STEM aspirations and self-perceptions as scientists.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10056601
- **Project number:** 4R44GM133244-02
- **Recipient organization:** LIGHTHAUS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** David Sarno
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $687,019
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10056601

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10056601, Visceral VR: Immersive Human Biology for the Study of Health and Disease (4R44GM133244-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10056601. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*