Through a collaboration with five of UB's schools and departments, David Fineberg, clinical assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery, has created a model of the human body that feels and responds like a live human.
According to Fineberg, the "Living Anatomy" model is a "physical virtual interactive tool for medical, dental, physical therapy, physicians assistants, chiropractic, and nursing (students)." Fineberg described the model as a flight simulator of human anatomy.
"If you're going to simulate flight, you have to build a cockpit," Fineberg said. "If you're going to simulate surgery, you have to build the human equivalent."
The model includes visual, tactile and virtual reality components that enable the user to explore each of the model's body organs, which are composed of substances, such as plastics and polymers, which respond to touch in the same manner as human tissue.
The organs are linked to sensors and virtual reality equipment, and as the user views the organ, the image is not obstructed by the visual representation of his or her hands.
"Being able to see the object in space, manipulated, and not be able to see your hands is actually a benefit, because the hands don't get in the way of the object," said Fineberg.
The model, which will be demonstrated in the Center for the Arts at noon Tuesday, is the result of two years of work on the part of the Center for Computational Research, the School of Dental Medicine and the sculpture, anatomy, surgery, aerospace and mechanical engineering departments.
According to David Derner, a sculptor who has been involved in the project for two years, the model responds differently than the cadavers on which most medical students practice.
"A body that has been drained and had formaldehyde is way different from a fresh body," said Derner.
Derner, an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College, holds a degree in biology and has studied human dissection at length. He molded the internal organs on the model by utilizing a variety of methods, including molding and freeform sculpting.
"Every organ is different," said Derner. 'The spleen, because of its nature, I had to sculpt; the liver, because it's harder, I could take a mold off of it. The spleen is like a rotten tomato; the liver is like a rock."
The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) is currently looking to take the model into high school science classrooms and will use equipment as accessible as a universal serial bus port.
"In order to deliver this type of tool, you don't need 2000 Dell clusters, all you need is a PC at home," Fineberg said.
Fineberg believes this technology will aid students in further understanding procedures used in rare circumstances, such as when a fatal liver case like hepatic deceleration occurs, which has a 95 percent mortality rate.
Students could never understand the way a liver would respond to such a disease with only a cadaver as their tool, said Fineberg. He hopes to have the model ready for full student use within 18 months.
"My vision for where this (project) is going to go is so far ahead that I have to stay present in the moment and take it one step at a time," Fineberg said.
Fineberg hopes the model will allow students to suspend their disbelief and learn about an organ in ways that would not otherwise be possible.
Fineberg said he wants students to be able to say, "Yeah, I'm inside this thing, I can let go for a second; I can pretend."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
