On the second floor of Colorado State University’s Health Education Outreach Center, 100 virtual reality headsets hang from retractable plant hangers in the immersive learning teaching lab. The product of tireless years of dedication and hard work, each hosts a cutting edge anatomic learning software produced by the Clapp Laboratory.
Bearing the namesake of Tod Clapp, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences associate dean of academic and student affairs, the laboratory’s focus shifted after the commercialization of Meta Quest headsets.
“My lab’s really focused on data visualization,” Clapp said. “In 2017, when we saw the headsets for virtual reality start to become commercially available, we started to look into, what do they do?”
Collaborating with technology consultant Brendan Garbe and software engineer Chad Eitel in the initial phases of the software’s development, the trio landed on developing a software for students to learn human anatomy, all in a 3D space complete with true sensations of depth and scale.
“Our VR tools are designed for anatomy education, allowing students to interact with 3D models and volumetric data, such as CT and MRI scans,” Eitel said. “The stereoscopic capabilities provide depth perception and spatial perspectives, creating an immersive learning experience.”
Programmed in C#, with Unity serving as the game engine and Blender utilized for 3D modeling, the software can analyze any MRI or CT scan data and translate it into 3D images within seconds.
“We can put any medical image into the software within seconds, and we’re down to about five seconds where we render just about any MRI or CT (scan),” Clapp said. “So students will bring their CDs in from their imaging a lot just so that they can look at them.”
The algorithm is able to generate every unique image by stacking images into voxels, the 3D counterpart to a pixel. Eitel and the lab’s associates then engineered the program to search through each voxel for data points at even integrals to generate the best image possible, instead of searching through the data all at once.
“We know that cadavers are the best; the literature will say that upside down and sideways. But we also know that things are moving in a direction towards digital technology, so we needed to give our students both. We need to give them the cadaver experience that they need to make them exceptional, and then we need to be able to push them a little bit towards this technology side so that they also have an upper leg.” -Tod Clapp, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences dean of academic and student affairs
Initial inspiration for developing the technology struck when Clapp noticed a gap in the virtual reality market.
“When we first started going to VR, we tried to buy a software suite, and we looked at several and we thought, ‘Well, gosh, none of these were developed by education, for education,’” Clapp said. “They were developed by engineers, and they were really interesting, but we couldn’t use them in an educational setting because I need tools in there.”
Once users don the VR goggles, they are met with a full kit of tools. From being able to rotate, volumize, shrink or flip a bod to pulling out specific body parts and flipping them from 3D to 2D renderings, students are offered a variety of ways to analyze human anatomy, all while their brains process the depth of anatomy in real-time — a target goal of the software’s stereoscopic engineering.
“When information is presented in VR, students are afforded a far more realistic rendering of the body,” said Sam McGrath, a research assistant. “And seeing a different image on each lens of the headset creates depth and dimension — key elements needed to truly conceptualize the body as it exists in nature.”
Current research from the lab investigating users’ biometric data, including heart rate variability and brain electrical activity, has illustrated the cognitive demands of learning from 3D content in contrast to 2D content. This research area is of particular interest to biomedical sciences doctoral candidate Brandon Lowry, whose journey with the Clapp Lab began as an undergraduate research assistant in 2021.
“We’ve observed that students generally display a lower cognitive load — mental effort — when they interact with 3D learning methods,” Lowry said. “We believe this is due to how the 3D learning method mimics the ways in which students interact with the world every day.”
While the software cannot completely replace the process of learning anatomy from human cadavers, it signals a larger technology-driven shift in the medical education sphere. The combination of tradition and technology often results in cutting-edge students.
“We know that cadavers are the best,” Clapp said. “The literature will say that upside down and sideways. But we also know that things are moving in a direction towards digital technology, so we needed to give our students both. We need to give them the cadaver experience that they need to make them exceptional, and then we need to be able to push them a little bit towards this technology side so that they also have an upper leg.”
The technology joined the market of higher education tools through the formation of Perspectus Tech, with the help of CSU STRATA, STRATA’s Director of Licensing Steve Foster explained.
“As a faculty member, Dr. Clapp disclosed his invention to CSU STRATA as part of his research,” Foster said. “From there, CSU STRATA filed patent applications and assisted with formation of Perspectus Inc., a startup company that is now marketing and selling the VR software primarily for medical education.”
The startup’s formation has allowed the software to be distributed to other major universities, including St. John’s University, the University of Charleston and the University of the Pacific’s School of Health Sciences.
Clapp’s continual dedication to his craft was recently recognized by the National Academy of Inventors, which named him as a senior member. Former students noted his worthiness of the recognition.
“Learning from him as a professor and working with him in the lab has been invaluable over the years,” McGrath said. “To hear he was awarded that recognition really speaks to the passion, commitment and drive I see him share daily.”
Clapp noted the effort of everyone who has contributed to the VR technology and laboratory itself, especially Eitel and Garbe.
“There’s so many people that have helped,” Clapp said. “Students, undergrads, grads. … Had the department not supported it, we would never have been able to pull the lab off. … The college supported it. The Office of the Vice President (for) Research supported it. It’s an honor that everybody kind of took a gamble on us.”
Looking to the future, Clapp and his team are hoping to integrate the technology into a setting at the forefront of patient treatment.
“We really want to get it in the clinic,” Clapp said. “We know it makes the clinicians better for presurgical planning. Right now, it doesn’t fit nicely into their workflow. And when they have to have a real regimen and schedule, it’s tough. So that’s where we really want to go, is how we can better fit into their workflow?”
While the technology continues to advance over the coming years, the dedication of all members of the Clapp Lab will remain unwavering.
“The Clapp Lab requires a great amount of drive and effort from each member,” Lowry said. “It is not for the faint of heart by any means. But I can certainly attest to the fact that we learn far more than we ever thought possible, almost every day.”
Reach Katie Fisher at science@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
