University of Parma - University Museum System
Pagine in italiano

Museum and Historical Library of Biomedicine - BIOMED

c/o Ospedale Maggiore - Via A. Gramsci 14, 43126 Parma
tel. +39 0521 033143 - +39 0521 033132 - +39 0521 033032

The "Organogenesis" project:

a hypertextual atlas of morphology and regional anatomy of human development

The Museum includes a collection of human fetuses of different gestational ages, preserved as either dehydratated or fixed specimens. This material is exclusively intended for the research and for the education of medical students, and not for public viewing.

However, to share the scientific value of this unique collection with national and international specialists of human development, the Scientific Director of the Museum and the medical students of the Course of Hypothalamic Neurosecretion have initiated a collaborative educational program named "ORGANOGENESIS". This program is aimed at providing on the web site of the Museum a hypertextual atlas of morphology and regional anatomy of human development, based on the fetal collection and embryologic data kept in the historical Library of the Department.

Examples of ORGANOGENESIS are the hypertext 1, courtesy of Davide Malinconico, Elena Borghi and Francesco Saggese, showing the sagittal paramedian anatomy of the embryonic Carnegie stage 11, and the hypertext 2 displaying a dissection of the brain and pituitary gland in a fetus at the 5th - 6th gestational month.