URI’s anatomy curriculum now includes synthetic human cadavers

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The four synthetic human cadavers the University of Rhode Island acquired last month have the look and feel of real bodies, though they have no skin covering the muscles, organs and skeleton.

Faculty and staff say the full-size models, which are stored in water tanks to maintain their lifelike texture, are a huge improvement over the hard plastic models previously used to teach anatomy to undergraduate students.

“We wanted to give our students an experience similar to what medical school students get with real human cadavers,” Aura Grandidge, URI’s manager of undergraduate biology labs, said in a statement. “They will significantly improve the way students learn about anatomy.”

Manufactured by SynDaver Labs in Tampa, Fla., the synthetic human cadavers include the complete bone structure, muscles, tendons and ligaments, fully articulating joints, a complete respiratory system, digestive tract, circulatory system, urinary tract and reproductive organs.

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The second university in New England to acquire the synthetic human cadavers, URI is the only school with more than one cadaver.

Beginning next fall, freshmen enrolled in a course on human anatomy will dissect the models as part of their anatomy lab, as will upperclassmen studying comparative anatomy. More than 1,000 students each year will work with the models.

“One of the challenges of studying muscles, nerves, the circulatory system and other aspects of human anatomy is that it’s difficult for students to put everything in context,” said Grandidge, who is developing a curriculum using the cadaver models. “Traditionally we use plastic models to learn anatomy, which makes it more challenging for students to understand how everything goes together.”

Each cadaver model cost about $40,000; a private grant and university funds paid for the models.

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