The Anatomy Laboratory at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) has been awarded a Human Tissue Authority Licence for public display.
The licence, officially awarded in June 2019, means that the Anatomy team at BSMS are now able to permit the public display of consented human tissue. It permits the team to improve health information for wider groups, giving more people, such as artists and teachers, access to the facilities for education, training and health promotion than ever before.
This will also give the general public more opportunities to access the facilities. To date, the facility has hosted two live non-human dissection events, attracting more than 100 visitors. The new licence means that human parts and bones in a state of health and disease can now be shown to public groups.
Commenting on the licence, Dr Claire Smith, Head of Anatomy at BSMS, said: “I am delighted that we’ve been awarded the public display licence. The Anatomy Laboratory is a fantastic facility for our students and NHS colleagues to learn about the human body and push the boundaries of science and surgery.
"With this new licence, we are thrilled that we’re able to open our doors to the wider community and increase the number of public events we host each year. Being able to use human parts and bones as part of our external events programme is a fantastic way to educate visitors to the laboratory.”
Each year the Anatomy Laboratory trains more than 1,800 medical and allied healthcare students and receives 30 donor bodies generously donated through a willed body donation program.
The Anatomy Laboratory underwent extensive refurbishments during summer 2018, creating two new state-of-the-art dissection rooms. Advanced audio-visual systems were also installed, allowing the broadcast of live dissections to all parts of the room from a central demonstration area.
The Anatomy team are currently planning more events for autumn 2019. Keep an eye on the BSMS events page for more information.