3d Atlas Of The Developing Human

Knowledge of complex morphogenetic processes that occur during embryonic development is essential for understanding the anatomy of the (human) body and to get insight in the pathogenesis of various congenital malformations. Understanding these processes, which are difficult to comprehend for (bio)medical students, can be facilitated by using a three‐dimensional (3D) developmental series of the different organ systems of human embryos. In this project we aim to create such a 3D atlas of human development. Serial sections of 33 human embryos between Carnegie stages 7 (16 days) and 23 (56 days) are used to create 3D reconstructions of different organ systems. Digital images of the first series of sections were received from the Computer Imaging Laboratory of the Louisiana State University in New Orleans and additional images of a second series of sections were captured at the Carnegie Collection of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C.. Amira version 5.3 is used to align the sections and to create the 3D reconstructions. The reconstructed organ systems are: Central Nervous system/Peripheral Nervous system/Eyes and Ears/Cardiovascular system/Intestines/Lungs, Liver, Spleen/Urogenital system/Somites and Skeleton/and the Coelom. Since January 2010, 25 (bio)medical students of the University of Amsterdam have been involved in this project via different educational projects. Each student focused on an individual organ system of interest (OOI). They studied the development of their OOI from textbooks and learned to understand embryology from serial sections, after which they produced 3D reconstructions of different stages of their OOI and presented their data to each other and to the department staff. In this way the students learned a great deal about human organogenesis and additionally produced a large amount of 3D reconstructions that will be included in the atlas and be used for both future education and for research purposes. Grant Funding Source : Academic Medical Center