Primal Pictures, the company that supplies online anatomy graphics for the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH), has scooped a top European prize for learning and e-education.
The EuroPrix is recognised as the leading prize in multimedia arts in Europe. Primal Pictures 3D anatomy images were chosen from 500 entrants from all sectors.
Chief executive, Laurie Wiseman, said, “This is a remarkable award for specialist software such as ours. Even a jury composed of non-medical experts voted our product as the best education product. It shows the instant impact of the approach.”
Primal’s products have been developed painstakingly over the past 10 years. The suite of software includes the entire musculo-skeletal system and the spine. Users can build up images of joints and other skeletal structures layer-by-layer, rotate images, view MRI scans and dissections or test their knowledge with an online quiz. The NeLH version can be viewed on the library’s site at Anatomy.tv.
Creative director, Chris Briscoe, said “The word ‘anatomy’ does not really reflect the nature of innovation in our products. These are the most advanced 3D models of anatomical structures ever built. You peel away the layers of anatomy and rotate the models at will. This is an advanced resource using highly sophisticated techniques.”
In the course of next year, the Primal team of 40 staff will complete the anatomical model to include all internal organs and body systems. Multiple versions will be produced for different levels of users from school students to hospital physicians.
“Our aim within two years is to become a standard medical and human biology resource for the millions of people studying the body every year,” said Laurie Wiseman.
Primal Pictures was founded in 1991, growing out of a partnership with Dr Alf Linney, head of medical graphics at the medical physics department of University College Hospital, London. Initially supported by government grants, the company now sells CD-ROMs throughout the world in addition to providing online anatomy resources at Anatomy.tv.