- The teaching of anatomy is facing a new challenge because the new imaging techniques show the human body from an entirely new perspective. Using a smart phone, we can gain access to information within seconds: this altered world changes the view of anatomy teaching: it sets out in the direction where it transfers knowledge that will be important for later steps of medical training, said László Mátyus, Dean of the Faculty of General Medicine at the opening of the 21st Congress of the Hungarian Anatomical Society.
The annual professional meeting on June 14-15 was housed by the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology of the University of Debrecen. This was one of the first insitutes established of the Faculty of Medicine, which is 100 years old today.
According to Péter Szűcs, Director of the Institute, in medical training anatomy has remained a key subject even after a century and despite having to compete against opportunitities offered by modern technological advances. He added that the four Hungarian medical universities need to strive for a uniform appoach to training. Hence, one of the prominent topics of the conference was the use of the new educational methods, virtual and digital techniques and the sharing of educational experience.
Péter Szűcs told unideb. hu that the University of Debrecen was the first to introduce, at the suggestion of Miklós Antal, the Director of the Institute, the teaching of virtual histology to break with classical tissue samples on slides. It was only recently that other universities began to introduce this kind of digitalisation.
The advantage of the method is that students can have access to the slides 24/7, even in the privacy of their homes.
Szűcs added that another unique innovation has been introduced in Debrecen’s medical training. A new course focusing on the head and neck region has been launched where computer controlled virtual anatomy is combined with autopsy and imaging techniques.
The conference was attended by professionals and researchers from the anatomy institutes of the four Hungarian medical universities, of the Marosvásárhely Medical and Pharmacy University and, as an invited quest presenter, by renowned Scottish espert Andrew Todd. The almost 100-strong event provided opportunities for presenting the most recent scientific results in the fields of brain research, cell and embryology, clinical anatomy and stem cell research.
Among other things, there were discussions of some significant results of the Institute’s connective tissue biology and developmental biology research group in the field of cartilage tissue and regeneration research as well as the research under way at the University of Debrecen that applies a unique technique to examine the development of spinal bone marrow.
- During the research genetic manipulations were carried out in mouse embryos within the uterus, followed by a targeted examination of these developing nerve cells. There are only very few places in Europe where this technique is used and in Hungary it is a rarity ath this time, said the Director of the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology.
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