The human body is a beautifully complicated system of muscles, bones and tissue. It is an anatomical marvel best explored through physical examples, a reality experienced by Colorado State University students in the gross human anatomy laboratory.
Located on the fourth floor of the Health Education Outreach Center, the 5,000-square-foot lab was constructed in 2019 to accommodate the growing need for lab time utilizing human donors.
“Before this lab was built, human and animal anatomy classes shared the same space, limiting student access to specimens,” said Kenny Ivie Jr., senior anatomy instructor.
The space can comfortably accommodate 100 students, 30 donors and 10 faculty and teaching assistants. Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around three walls of the laboratory and are specially designed to dim and brighten, mirroring the time of day.
Every detail of the facility was specifically designed to produce its calm atmosphere, as Tod Clapp, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences associate dean for academic and student affairs, explained.
“We always talk to the students about (how donors) gave to society twice: once while they were alive and once after. And the students buy into that, and the students do a really good job.” -Tod Clapp, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences associate dean for academic and student affairs
“This lab has 30 air exchanges per hour,” Clapp said. “It is almost below the smell threshold. … There was significant investment into CFD modeling so that we could look at airflow, anticipate airflow and make sure anything that could potentially be deemed harmful doesn’t cross the breathing space. It is the benchmark facility in the country.”
Hundreds of students pass through the doors of the lab every semester across seven courses, including undergraduates.
“We have about 700 students go through every year, which is unprecedented in the western half of the United States because those students are undergrads who get the opportunity to learn from human specimens in a team of four with a real human cadaver,” Clapp said. “That’s unprecedented.”
Students are informed of the selfless weight of donors’ decisions, a notion kept at the forefront of their minds throughout the entire semester.
“We always talk to the students about (how donors) gave to society twice: once while they were alive and once after,” Clapp said. “And the students buy into that, and the students do a really good job.”
Donors’ cadavers are directly regulated by the Colorado State Anatomical Board, which is housed in the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where they are embalmed and stored for over nine months. Once transferred to the gross anatomy lab, as Ivie Jr. explained, they are stored in a cooler capable of holding over 40 individuals.
The state anatomical board works directly with both the individual and family to guarantee everyone involved in the decision is properly informed and in agreement.
“These people wanted to be here,” said Corinne Wilson, biomedical sciences graduate student. “They chose to be here. It’s (a) very extensive process between them and the families, and both parties have to agree.”
A single donor will remain with the laboratory for two years and aid in the learning of 1,000 to 2,000 students.
Learning anatomy in a physical, engaging environment can better educate students as they translate their knowledge from the textbook to the real anatomy of donors.
“Learning anatomy with real donors gives students a hands-on experience that can’t be replicated by textbooks or software,” Ivie Jr. said. “They can physically feel the differences between structures like arteries and veins and learn to identify anatomical relationships across multiple donors, rather than memorizing a single example.”
Students’ perspectives mirrored instructors’ observations, biomedical sciences undergraduate Maya Jones said.
“Getting to see the physical donors and being able to compare that to literature and the textbooks is just such a profoundly real experience,” Jones said. “Getting to see the structures and how they connect and what things branch from other things, I think, gives you really the whole picture.”
Graduate teaching assistants also play a critical role in the laboratory, guiding current students through classes in which they have previous experience. When advancing from student to teaching assistant, GTAs are trained to interact with an open-minded perspective.
“The teaching assistants are really taught to drive a fact-finding mission of well, ‘When they ask you a question, ask a question,’” Clapp said. “‘So what does this nerve say? OK, well, where is it coming from? OK.’ So what we’re really trying to drive is, if you don’t know what to do, what’s our process of figuring out? … Because if we can get the students to leave with ‘I can solve a novel problem,’ then we’ve succeeded.”
Lessons learned from the donors go beyond physical education and often encourage students to consider thoughts surrounding mortality and connectivity once skin is peeled back to reveal the complex system within.
“Donors teach students more than just anatomy — they reveal our shared humanity,” Ivie Jr. said. “Once the outer layer is removed, students realize how similar we all are beneath the surface. It’s rewarding to see students grasp how muscles, nerves and anatomical structures work together, and those ‘ah-ha’ moments when everything clicks are truly special.”
Reach Katie Fisher at science@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
