One of the biggest contributions to the Slice image bank to date is a collection of macroscopic images from the Museum of Human Disease at UNSW Australia. The collaboration between the BEST Network, the School of Medical Sciences and the Museum of Human Disease to get the museum’s historic specimen collection photographed was the focus of a recent article in UNSW’s Prognosis Magazine.

Photograph courtesy of UNSW Prognosis Magazine

In the early 1980s, staff in the School of Medical Sciences started the process of photographing the specimens and it’s these images that were first donated to Slice. Picking up the digitisation project again in 2015, the BEST Network helped to finish the photography of these specimens and now the entire Museum of Human Disease collection is available on Slice. To view the collection search “UNSW_MOHD_*” or click here.

By having the specimens digitised, not only are they now easily accessible by students and academics at other institutions, they also assist UNSW students to view and make notes on the images using the Slice annotation tool while their teachers refer to the original pots in class. One example of use is the notes circulated by Professor Nicholas Hawkins, the creator of Slice, to his students after class.