Ever
watch movies depicting medical students viewing a cadaver for
the first time? There’s always one student who can’t
take it, and immediately faints. Sound familiar?
Even though cadavers still serve a useful purpose,
in the next decade there will be a switch from using them to exclusively
using digital imagery for medical research and curriculum. This
is according to Ron Sekulski, executive director of the Dow Center
for Arts, Design and Technology in Grand Rapids.
The Visible Human Project, which was started
by the National Library of Medicine in 1986, is working to turn
science fiction into science fact. With the help of the University
of Michigan and the NLM, Kendall College of Arts and Design of
Ferris State University is taking the VHP to another level.
Slices
of Life
Imagine perching on a ladder looking down on
someone standing on the ground. Now add the fact that you have
the ability to see every anatomical structure—including
veins, tissues, muscles, organs, nerves and more.
This is the idea behind the Visible Human Project.
For the VHP, the National Library of Medicine
snapped digital images of sectioned frozen male and female cadavers
in the late 1980s. The male cadaver was sectioned at one-millimeter
intervals and the female at one-third of a millimeter. Each slice
or section contains samples of the body’s anatomical structures.
The University of Michigan and other research
universities across the country have been creating two- and three-dimensional
images of these slices using various software programs.
Appearing live on a computer screen near you—a
completely digitized human anatomy. Faint-hearted medical students
will now be in a lab sitting behind computers.
The Kendall College of Art and Design’s
Dow Center, which opened in March 2001, is taking the Visual Human
Project a step closer to achieving its ultimate purpose.
Adventures
in the Fourth Dimension
For the past several months, a team of students
has been working on enhancing the images for this project at Kendall’s
Dow Center.
“Our students went to an international
conference called ‘Medicine Meets Virtual Reality’
in California. We have our own virtual reality lab and wanted
to see how we could apply it in the medical arena,” Sekulski
says. While out in California, U of M medical staff and technicians
held a demonstration to show off advances in the Visible Human
Project.
According to Sekulski, the U of M representatives
were translating the digital data from existing files, while attempting
to enhance and clarify some of the anatomical structures. The
biggest challenges they faced were digitally restoring and enhancing
the color, which changed dramatically during the freezing process.
“Since U of M’s process wasn’t
working effectively, we approached them and suggested that our
art and visual design students assist their professionals,”
Sekulski says. “We have upper-level students who are trained
on the computer software and also possess the aesthetic ability
to interpret and visually enhance those images.”
After the team was assembled, Sekulski held
meetings with anatomists from U of M’s Bioninfomatics Center.
The team then developed a proposal that U of M thought was too
good to refuse; hence the art and visual design students, consisting
of a mix of majors from Visual Communication to Multi-Media to
Industrial Design, got their shot.
The NLM provides the images to the Dow Center,
and U of M funds the project.
“We get to work with some of the top anatomists
in the nation. These people are gifted and highly recognized in
their profession,” Sekulski says, “and now they’re
working with our students.”
One aspect that puts Kendall’s efforts
above others is that students are producing images in the fourth
dimension. In this case, the fourth-dimension has to do with the
sensitivity of texture.
“Medical students will be able to perform
virtual reality surgeries using a special scalpel, for example,”
Sekulski explains. “With this, the students can practice
surgical procedures over and over again. If you are cutting through
virtual heart tissue, it feels different than when you touch a
virtual bone with a scalpel,” he adds.
Kendall will continue to work on the VHP for
the next couple of years. Currently, they are putting the finishing
touches on images of the female reproductive system.
The
Right Equipment
Through the Dow Center, students at Kendall
tackle complex projects for real clients. Besides their creative
design skills, students who work on large projects gain knowledge
in other areas, often business-related, but not always.
James Tingley, a junior in Visual Communication,
sits quietly working on the VHP in a room filled with computers,
a few hanging plants, some books and a dry-erase board. Tingley
is having trouble deciphering whether it’s the left precentral
gyrus or the corpus callosum he’s seeing. He scans through
anatomy reference books to find exactly where each is located
in the brain and what they look like.
“Before I started working on this, I didn’t
know a lot about biology,” says Tingley.
Besides the reference books, U of M Cell and
Development Biology Programmer Analyst Susan Star looks over rough
drafts to make sure they’re accurate.
According to Sekulski, having Kendall’s
students work on the Visible Human Project reflects President
Oliver Evans’ belief that Kendall creates working artists.
The term “starving artist” is no longer applicable
to its graduates.
“Kendall graduates are equipped with the
knowledge, skills and the intellectual ability to solve problems.
When they graduate, they are already functioning at a professional
level,” says Sekulski.
On
the Road and Online
Besides the Visible Human project, Kendall students
have other major projects in the works, such as designing the
commuter vehicle of the future. This driverless vehicle will operate
by interfacing global positioning satellites and an on-board computer
control system. Various models will be able to transport 2-6 people
to and from work, perhaps even serving as a mobile office.
Other applications for the self-guided vehicles
might use special interactive features, such as allowing passengers
to view educational data while touring national parks.
Besides the new vehicle, Kendall will be developing
a new online instructional tool for Ferris’ Nursing students
using the VHP. After meeting with U of M and representatives from
the University of South Florida, Ferris State’s College
of Allied Health Sciences will be working together to secure grant
funding to develop a Digital Pregnancy Tutor. The content of the
digital tutor will be comprised of images, textual materials and
sounds related to the female reproductive system and pregnancy.
According to the Dean of Allied Health Sciences,
Dr. Jacqueline Hooper, Ferris’ Nursing students are in line
to be on the “cutting edge” of the use of such technology.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the
College of Allied Health,” Hooper says. “Once Kendall
and U of M finish the project, we will be the first to test pilot
it in our associate degree maternity nursing course.”
Hooper also points out one of the most educationally
enriching aspects of the tutor—its ability to respond based
upon each student’s level of knowledge. “This project
will increase students’ critical thinking ability, hence,
reinforcing their effectiveness as nurses,” she says.
In 1961, the television show Ben Casey premiered.
Each episode began with a voice intoning the words, “Man,
Woman, Life, Death, Infinity,” as a hand drew symbols for
each on a blackboard.
More than four decades later, computer screens
outnumber blackboards in most classrooms and laboratories, but
those underlying realities haven’t changed. The VHP and
its various applications will have a lasting impact on the lives
of real people at every stage of their life-cycle.
