Lab Welcomes Digital Cadaver

Thanks to a grant from the Armstrong McDonald Foundation, students in the health professions are benefitting from a new high-tech learning tool.

An Anatomage table, a mobile digital cadaver measuring seven feet by two feet and costing nearly $90,000, arrived in late March and comes equipped with a touch screen and two 64” display monitors.

With the swipe of a finger, students will be able to rotate the body in all directions, and with a scalpel “swipe” tool, they’ll slice, layer, segment and cross-section tissue to demonstrate anatomical relationships.

Until recently, animal dissection and plastic models were the only methods available to demonstrate the systems of the human body at the undergraduate level. College of Saint Mary recently developed a cadaver lab to enhance anatomical instruction; however, the lab is less than optimal for the more than 200 students who are enrolled in anatomy courses annually.

“Today’s students love technology and are drawn to it. This device will use that love of technology to encourage the exploration of human anatomy through this space-age device,” said Dr. Jeff Keyte, division chair of Arts & Sciences and assistant professor of biology. “The ‘cool factor’ alone will get students’ attention.”