3D Atlas of Human Embryology; creating an application as a new learning tool

Abstract

Proper understanding of the complex morphogenetic processes underlying embryonic development is intimately associated with good three-dimensional insight into the developing structures. This, in turn, is exceedingly difficult to acquire with the currently available study tools. As a first attempt to provide such a learning tool we made an application, containing a 3D developmental series of human embryos. Digital images of serial sections of 34 human embryos of the Carnegie Collection between Carnegie stages 7 (15–17 days) and 23 (56–60 days) are used to create 3D reconstructions of all developing organ systems. The 3D reconstruction program Amira is used to align the sections and to manually annotate all structures in order to create the 3D models. Subsequently, game-development students used the program Blender to create low-poly surfaces, based on the original reconstructions and without the loss of necessary detail. This application is created by students, for students. Over 45 students contributed to this labor-intensive project, investing about 20,000 hours of work. The result is an impressive atlas covering the entire embryonic period and also containing additional quizzes and short textual explanations per stage and organ system. This study is supported in part by a grant from the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Grant Funding Source: AAA/AMC