Virtual reality may replace cadavers

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I'm sure a lot of you read this already...but, oh well...just in case!

 

 

 

 

Virtual reality may replace cadavers

 

A new facility at the University of Calgary

allows scientists to get inside 3-D models

of cells and organisms, DAWN WALTON reports

 

DAWN WALTON

 

Friday, March 1, 2002

 

 

Canada's newest virtual reality room, which is unlike anything in the world,

could help eliminate the need for scientists to use cadavers and lab animals

in their research and training, officials announced yesterday.

 

And if all goes as planned, researchers said it could also set on the fast

track the search for cures for complex genetic disorders such as diabetes,

Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

 

The $6-million facility unveiled by the University of Calgary yesterday can

place scientists right inside three-dimensional models of cells, tissue or

even entire organisms such as the human body.

 

" It's like being inside a television and playing with the little people, "

said Christoph Sensen, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology who

leads the project.

 

The facility uses Java 3-D technology to project realistic images on the

walls of a cubic room, which measures 2½ metres on all sides, known by its

trademark name, the CAVE. (Java is a commonly used, Web-based computer

programming language.) The images can be seen through special glasses and

manipulated by pulling a handheld trigger.

Researchers can zoom in or out on the images and rotate them on the walls

and floor of the darkened room.

 

The images are so realistic viewers often cannot resist trying to touch

them.

 

Ultimately, the CAVE, which was designed by Fakespace Systems Inc. of

Kitchener, Ont., gives scientists a much more up-close understanding of

diseases and biological systems.

 

Those using the system can see blips in DNA, which could unlock the keys to

illness, watch how diseases evolve and even inject computerized chemicals

into virtual cells to observe the reaction.

 

Without this kind of visual imaging, researchers must often analyze reams of

code printed on stacks of computer paper. That takes time, and as it turns

out, people are not very good at grasping that kind of information anyway.

 

Randy Johnston, president of Genome Prairie, which is part of the Genome

Canada project, explained that humans are better at recognizing patterns in

three dimensions, and noted that the new facility uses that innate human

ability to allow researchers to better understand complex biological

information.

 

It could also take a lot of the blood and guts out of medical research.

 

Traditionally, Prof. Sensen said, teaching medical students about the human

inner ear requires a body. But with a model of the inner ear projected in

the CAVE there is no need for cadavers.

 

It also allows researchers to perform experiments without ever using a

single scalpel, petri dish or lab animal.

 

Scientists could use this technology to inject a diseased virtual cell with

a computer-generated drug. The program would allow the researcher to see if

the drug shows promise. If so, he or she could then head to the lab to

perform the same test on living cells.

 

" It's basically a model we can use in advance of testing on animals or

humans, " Prof. Sensen said.

 

" This will speed up the product development and it will also make many

experiments unnecessary. "

 

The facility has been in development for one year. Its backers, including

the federal and provincial governments, as well as the private sector,

concede that the facility is not unique, but say it is by far the most

advanced of its kind.

 

Chris Spindler, a technical architect with Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.,

said there are other virtual-reality rooms at some postsecondary

institutions and in the private sector. Some oil and gas companies use them

to look for potential gushers, as well as geological flaws such as fault

lines, he said.

 

But this system has a massive memory capacity that will likely double in the

next two years, Mr. Spindler said.

 

And with the exponential growth in information coming out of human genome

projects going on around the world, the system is going to need that kind of

space to one day map out the blueprint of human life.

 

But the University of Calgary CAVE has an even more important bonus,

officials said.

 

Other facilities require the user to sit inside the system to do the

programming.

Here, the people making inner-ear and other programs can design them

off-site via the Web. They only need to use the facility when they are ready

to conduct their experiments.

 

That feature frees the facility for other users. And there is already a long

list of them in Calgary, Prof. Sensen said.

 

Pharmaceutical and petroleum exploration companies, as well as those

interested in forming weather models, have already asked for a turn in the

CAVE.

 

Cheryl Ross

Research Assistant

Animal Research Issues

The Humane Society of the United States

Phone: (301)-258-3042

Fax: (301)-258-7760

http://www.hsus.org/

 

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