The project took place at the plastination laboratory at the University of Michigan, opened in 1989 and run by Dr. Roy Glover, an associate professor of anatomy. Plastination was invented in 1981 by Dr. Gunter von Hagens, a German chemist. When his patent expired, Dow Corning modified the process, making it cheaper and faster. Dr. Glover said he could plastinate a human heart in 24 hours, but a week is needed with the von Hagens method. As teaching aids, plastinated organs offer advantages over models and organs preserved in formaldehyde, the traditional method.
Plastinated organs are nontoxic, extremely durable, dry to the touch, and have no smell.
They can be written on and, if the client wishes, custom-dissected to highlight specific structures. For the communication disorders program at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., Dr. Glover created a plastinated bisected head and neck, which affords a cutaway view of the human vocal apparatus. While plastic models of this structure exist, they often distort sizes and positions of parts for the sake of clarity. It's been absolutely wonderful. It's a powerful learning tool.