The visible human project: From data to knowledge

The U.S. National Library of Medicine, in partnership with the U.S. National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, the U.S. National Eye Institute, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute, have begun a three prong effort within the Visible Human Project to address: the creation of a new, online, digital, head-and-neck atlas; the development of a tool kit of computational programs capable of automatically performing many of the basic data handling functions required for using Visible Human data in applications; and the improved resolution of future Visible Human data sets through the reduction of the anatomical artifacts introduced by the methods used to stabilize and section the anatomical materials and the introduction of staining and wide-spectrum methods for increasing tissue contrast.