Researchers at the University of Copenhagen are behind the development of a new method that will make it possible to develop drugs faster and greener. This will lead to cheaper medicine for consumers.
Webinar from LL Tech – November 9 @ 11:30 EST
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Source:Risk of neoplasia in Barrett’s Esophagus overstated
Lab Soft News had a recent reference to an article on reflux disease, Barrett's esophagus, long considered a pre-neoplastic condition and actual observed rates of carcinoma in Barrett's esophagus.
Many GI pathologists, including myself will tell you "we see a ton of Barrett's" but few adenocarcinomas. Esophagectomies are vanishly rare. Very uncommon specimen so from my own personal experience I think these numbers are accurate. For better or for worse this could result in fewer "screening" biopsies...
Will see if endoscopists endorse...
Source:Leica Microsystems Introduces Extra Large Slide Scanning for Digital Pathology
Double and Jumbo Slide Scanning on the Leica SCN400
Wetzlar, Germany. The largest capture area of any line scanner in digital pathology is now possible with the Leica SCN400 and SCN400 F. The latest release in Leica’s Total Digital Pathology portfolio enables the digitization of very large specimens, not possible with any other line scanning digital pathology system.
This development provides a new level of flexibility in digital pathology, enabling users to scan a wide range of samples on a single system. Traditional (26 x 76 mm), double (52 x 76 mm) and now extra-large Jumbo (113 x 76 mm) slides can all be captured in either brightfield or fluorescence using the Leica SCN400 and SCN400 F scanners.
Existing users of the Leica SCN400 digital slide scanner range can benefit from being able to implement large slide scanning, without any hardware changes or physical updates to their scanners.
To view some sample large slide scans, please visit our Virtual Slide Gallery at
http://www.leica-microsystems.com/products/digital-pathology.
Source:Omnyx Digital Pathology Platform Chosen for Educational Seminars in Asia
Market Press Release – November 1, 2011 2:46 am – SINGAPORE – Nov 1, 2011- GE Healthcare announced today that its Omnyx(TM) Integrated Digital Pathology solution will be the virtual microscopy system for one of two educational seminars, the inaugural Hematolymphoid Course at the Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital. Instead of reviewing cases using traditional optical microscopes, over 60 pathologists from throughout Asia and beyond will use GE’s all-digital pathology solution during the Hematolymphoid educational workshop to review 40 cases encompassing more than 500 digital slide images.
Dr. Tan Soo Yong, Senior Consultant, Department of Pathology Singapore General Hospital and Hematolymphoid course Director, said, “Diagnosis in haematopathology requires examination of immunostained sections. This poses a big challenge for postgraduate medical education as it is difficult to provide sufficient material for all participants. We have been able to save money and greatly expand participation in our Hematolymphoid seminar since digital microscopy eliminates the cost of creating 9,000 physical slides and makes viewing pathology images much more accessible than a microscope could.”
Omnyx™ VL4 Whole Slide Scanner created the 500 digital slide images used for the conference and participants will use 18 Omnyx™ Pathologist Workstations to organize and review them.
“We are pleased to partner with Singapore General Hospital as part of our sponsorship of its inaugural Hematolymphoid & 2nd Breast Pathology Course. The benefits of integrated digital pathology extend far beyond education. The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology system is designed to increase access to sub-specialist care, greatly increase pathologist productivity, and reduce read-time, particularly in remote locations.” said John Chee, General Manager of GE Healthcare IT, Asia Pacific.
Omnyx’s breakthrough technology extends beyond slide digitization and includes anenterprise software solution to enable pathology departments to improve access to pathologists regardless of where a patient or specialist is located. This results in improved turnaround times and greater collaboration among specialists.
“The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution was designed by pathologists, for pathologists and built from the ground up with help from a global team of collaborators with the overall goal of digitizing the pathologist’s process with intuitive and efficient solutions. We are looking forward to the reaction of pathologists attending the two seminars on the Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution and image quality,” said Rajiv Enand, Sr. Vice President of Business Development, Omnyx.
Omnyx’s complete product line will include scanners, workstations, algorithms, servers, and digital archives for storage. The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution is designed to integrate what are often stand-alone products into a comprehensive platform. It combines high speed, high quality whole slide scanning with scalable information technology products to create a solution that addresses the reliability and process requirements of pathologists and enables single and multi-site organizations to benefit from increased efficiencies and greater access to peers in the field.
By digitizing the slides and corresponding workflow, the Omnyx solution is intended to do what a traditional microscope cannot — unite an entire pathology department and improve collaboration, communication and efficiency.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.ge.com.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to servinghealthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at http://www.gehealthcare.com.
For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com
Follow us on Twitter @GEHealthcareIT
About Omnyx
Omnyx, LLC (www.omnyx.com) is a joint venture of GE Healthcare and UPMC (the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) with locations in Pittsburgh, PA and Piscataway, NJ. The company is developing an Integrated Digital Pathology system allowing pathology departments worldwide to move to an all-digital workflow. Their products include image management, workflow automation, image analysis algorithms and system integration along with a family of high speed whole-slide scanners. Close collaboration with pathologists at UPMC and other institutions along with their relationship with GE Healthcare allows Omnyx to focus its innovation on the needs of anatomic pathologists worldwide. Omnyx products are currently in development and are for research use only. They are not for use in diagnostic procedures.
Source:Psyche Systems and Aperio Combine Resources for LIS-Digital Pathology Integration
Leading LIS and digital pathology companies with collaborative effort for end-to-end LIS integration with scanning technology for workflow support. Barriers to entry and use keep falling.
MILFORD, Mass. and VISTA, Calif., Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Psyche Systems Corporation and Aperio announced today that the companies have formed a strategic relationship which will provide customers an end-to-end integrated LIS and Digital Pathology solution. The collaboration will provide seamless, bi-directional data and image sharing to support a multitude of workflows in the Pathology Laboratory.
The integration of Aperio's Spectrum(TM) Healthcare data management system and Psyche Systems' WindoPath Anatomic Pathology solution will enable single sign-on and data transfer in support of the Pathologist's workflow--improving the efficiency and quality of pathology services that laboratories are able to provide.
The companies are launching the alliance at the Pathology Visions Conference, October 30 - November 2, 2011. Attendees of the conference are welcome to visit both companies on the exhibit floor to learn more about the relationship. Psyche Systems is in booth #101; Aperio is in booth #210.
About Psyche Systems Corporation
Since 1976, Psyche Systems has delivered products that help laboratories of all sizes run more efficiently and cost-effectively. Psyche's WindoPath AP system, Clinical LIS, e.Outreach, EMR Internet Interface, MicroPath, and SBB blood bank software deliver a completely integrated solution for all areas and types of laboratories. Psyche's products are fully integrated or stand-alone and support full automation, integration with instruments, clinical and back-office systems, Outreach and Meaningful Use initiatives.
For more information, visit http://www.psychesystems.com.
About Aperio
Aperio is the leading provider of digital pathology solutions in hospitals, reference labs, and pharmaceutical and research institutions across the world. Today, our affordable and complete product portfolio improves patient care by enhancing quality assurance, delivering more efficient workflows, facilitating access to new and more targeted therapies, and improving pathologists' skills via lifelong education. Our comprehensive product line features our ScanScope® scanners, Spectrum(TM) image management (PACS) software, SecondSlide® slide sharing service for pathology, and image analysis tools and services. Aperio's products are FDA cleared for specific clinical applications, and are intended for research and education use for other applications. For clearance updates and more information please visit http://www.aperio.com.
SOURCE Psyche Systems Corporation
Source:New Paper: Image Microarrays (IMA): Digital Pathology’s Missing Tool
Introduction: The increasing availability of whole slide imaging (WSI) data sets (digital slides) from glass slides offers new opportunities for the development of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) algorithms. With the all-digital pathology workflow that these data sets will enable in the near future, literally millions of digital slides will be generated and stored. Consequently, the field in general and pathologists, specifically, will need tools to help extract actionable information from this new and vast collective repository. Methods: To address this limitation, we designed and implemented a tool (dCORE) to enable the systematic capture of image tiles with constrained size and resolution that contain desired histopathologic features. Results: In this communication, we describe a user-friendly tool that will enable pathologists to mine digital slides archives to create image microarrays (IMAs). IMAs are to digital slides as tissue microarrays (TMAs) are to cell blocks. Thus, a single digital slide could be transformed into an array of hundreds to thousands of high quality digital images, with each containing key diagnostic morphologies and appropriate controls. Current manual digital image cut-and-paste methods that allow for the creation of a grid of images (such as an IMA) of matching resolutions are tedious. Conclusion: The ability to create IMAs representing hundreds to thousands of vetted morphologic features has numerous applications in education, proficiency testing, consensus case review, and research. Lastly, in a manner analogous to the way conventional TMA technology has significantly accelerated in situ studies of tissue specimens use of IMAs has similar potential to significantly accelerate CAD algorithm development.
Keywords: IMA, SIVQ, TMA, WSI
Jason Hipp1, Jerome Cheng1, Liron Pantanowitz2, Stephen Hewitt3, Yukako Yagi4, James Monaco5, Anant Madabhushi5, Jaime Rodriguez-canales3, Jeffrey Hanson3, Sinchita Roy-Chowdhuri3, Armando C Filie3, Michael D Feldman6, John E Tomaszewski6, Natalie C Shih6, Victor Brodsky7, Giuseppe Giaccone8, Michael R Emmert-Buck3, Ulysses J Balis1
1 Department of Pathology, University of Michigan, M4233A Medical Science I, 1301 Catherine, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0602, USA
2 Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, UPMC Shadyside Hospital, Suite 201, 5150 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA
3 National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Pathology, Advanced Technology Center, 8717 Grovemont Circle, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA
4 MGH Pathology Imaging and Communication, Technology (PICT) Center, 101 Merrimac Street, Boston, MA 02114-4719, USA
5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ, USA
6 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvanaia, Division of Surgical Pathology, 6 Founders, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
7 Weill Cornell Medical College, 575 Lexington Avenue, # 312, New York, NY 10022, USA
8 National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Medical Oncology 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
How to cite this article: How to cite this URL:         |
Source:Ventana Receives FDA Clearance for HER2 (4B5) Image Analysis and Digital Read Applications
TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana), a member of the Roche Group, received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the VENTANA Companion Algorithm HER2 (4B5) for image analysis applications with associated VIRTUOSO software and iScan Coreo Au scanner. Ventana is now the only company with a complete workflow solution for determining HER2 (4B5) expression in breast cancer patients.
The application assists the pathologist in the detection and semi-quantitative measurement of HER2 (4B5) protein in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded normal and neoplastic tissue. While the pathologist is still the ultimate authority in scoring HER2 (4B5) stains, the image analysis application helps ensure consistency and objectivity in interpretation.
When used with the VENTANA PATHWAY anti-HER2 (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody, it is indicated for use as an aid in the assessment of breast cancer patients for whom HERCEPTIN (Trastuzumab) treatment is being considered. The 510(k) clearance covers all components of the workflow including the 4B5 clone, slide stainer, detection systems, software and scanner.
"The addition of the Companion Algorithm for HER2 (4B5) to the VENTANA portfolio of products gives pathologists an important tool for assessing HER2 (4B5) expression in breast cancer patients," said Dr. Steve Burnell, lifecycle leader for advanced workflow. "Ventana continues to lead the industry with its commitment to providing customers a complete, optimized solution – including stainers, reagents, scanners and digital pathology software applications - that provides accurate and efficient testing results."
Ventana also received FDA clearance for the digital read application that allows the pathologist to view HER2 (4B5) stained slides as images on a computer monitor with VIRTUOSO software and iScan Coreo Au scanner.
About Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. ("VMSI") (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), a member of the Roche Group, innovates and manufactures instruments and reagents that automate tissue processing and slide staining for cancer diagnostics. VENTANA solutions are used in clinical histology and drug development research laboratories worldwide. The company's "Smart Systems" – intuitive, integrated staining and workflow management platforms that optimize laboratory efficiencies to reduce errors – support diagnosis and inform treatment decisions for anatomic pathology professionals. Together with Roche, VMSI is driving personalized medicine through accelerated drug discovery and the development of "companion diagnostics" to identify the patients most likely to respond favorably to specific therapies. Visit http://www.ventana.com to learn more.
Ventana products are for in vitro diagnostic use for specific applications, and are research use only for other applications.
VENTANA, the VENTANA logo, PATHWAY, Companion Algorithm, VIRTUOSO and BenchMark are trademarks of Roche.
Source:NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville, The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio, Through Saturday
Tomorrow and Saturday night at The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio: NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville, the newest production of the very talented and lovely Mr. Jonathan Cross.
Hope to see you there!
NetherWorld: A Morality Vaudeville
The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and ClockWorks Puppetry Studio
196 Columbia Street Brooklyn, 11231
Thursday to Saturday at 8 PM
Saturdays & Sundays Matinee at 4 PMThe Follies of Humanity… Enacted by Demonic Puppets!
Grimly Comical Vignettes… and Surreal Melodramas!
Journey Beyond the Grave… and Return!“NetherWorld, A Morality Vaudeville” is a variety show in hell, interwoven with an operetta which tells the tale of the Demon King, Mister Scratch, and his search for an heir to the throne of NetherWorld. It features creepy & surreal marionettes, live sound effects, and an original live score performed on accordian, piano, and toy piano. NetherWorld was an Off-Off Broadway Review Award recipient for one of the Best Performances of 1995.
You can find out more by clicking here.
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Amazing Baroque Bone Chapels and Real Life Mad Scientists: Episodes 5 and 6 of The Midnight Archive
The Midnight Archive, as mentioned previously, is a new web-based documentary series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from Observatory," the Brooklyn-based event/gallery space I founded a few years ago. The series is created and directed by film-maker Ronni Thomas, who has plans to upload approximately one new episode per week to the new Midnight Archive website.
Episodes five and six of The Midnight Archive--A. Head B. Body and Empire of Death--have just been uploaded is now available for viewing! You can view them above or on The Midnight Archive website.
For more on the series, to see former episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list so as to be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and thus be alerted--by clicking here.
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"Of Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France," Interdisciplinary Symposium, American Philosophical Society
Another excellent looking symposium! Free and open to the public:
Of Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France
Interdisciplinary Symposium
December 1 - 3, 2011
American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum, PhiladelphiaOf Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France is organized by the APS Museum in conjunction with its current exhibition, Of Elephants & Roses: Encounters with French Natural History, 1790 - 1830. The symposium includes French and American scholars, and addresses key ideas raised by the displays in the exhibition. Included are presentations exploring how Empress Josephine became shepherdess, botanist, and estate manager, how top scientists and artists pictured nature, and how natural science influenced everything from Balzac's novels to the 19th century's romanticized notions of long-lost worlds.
Of Elephants & Roses celebrates the life sciences during a time when Paris was the center of natural history in the Western world. On view are more than sixty objects from France never before seen in the U.S., including Josephine's black swan, gorgeous renderings of flowers on Sèvres porcelain, a mastodon fossil bone sent by Thomas Jefferson to Paris, an herbarium specimen of the flowering Franklinia tree, and everyday objects decorated with charming images of a giraffe who walked 550 miles across France to greet the king.
For information on speakers and program: apsmuseum.org/symposium
For online registration, required by Nov. 28, 2011: apsmuseum.org/registrationSYMPOSIUM IS FREE OF CHARGE
The symposium is made possible through generous funding by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.
More on this symposium can be found here.
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"Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race" Exhibition and Symposium, Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC, Through January 16
I have long been enthralled with the chilling Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, a catalog for a touring exhibition of the same name organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I have just found out that this exhibition is now on view right here in New York City, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, through January 16th. If the catalog is any indication, this exhibit is simply not to be missed.
As a further lure, this Sunday, November 6th, the museum is hosting a fascinating looking symposium entitled "Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany" preceded by a guided tour of the exhibition.
Full info follows for both exhibition and symposium; hope very much to see you there!
Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
On view through January 16, 2012
Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Place, New York City“Nazism is applied biology.”
— Rudolf Hess, Deputy to Adolf HitlerWASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s traveling exhibition, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, examines how the Nazi leadership, in collaboration with individuals in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good, used science to help legitimize persecution, murder and, ultimately, genocide...
Eugenics theory sprang from turn-of-the-century scientific beliefs asserting that Charles Darwin’s theories of “survival of the fittest” could be applied to humans. Supporters, spanning the globe and political spectrum, believed that through careful controls on marriage and reproduction, a nation’s genetic health could be improved.
The Nazi regime was founded upon the conviction that “inferior” races and individuals had to be eliminated from German society so that the fittest “Aryans” could thrive. The Nazi state fully committed itself to implementing a uniquely racist and antisemitic variation of eugenics to “scientifically” build what it considered to be a “superior race.” By the end of World War II, six million Jews had been murdered. Millions of others also became victims of persecution and murder through Nazi “racial hygiene” programs designed to cleanse Germany of “biological threats” to the nation’s “health,” including “foreign-blooded” Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), persons diagnosed as “hereditarily ill,” and homosexuals. In German-occupied territories, Poles and others belonging to ethnic groups deemed “inferior” were also murdered...
And the symposium:
Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany
Sunday, November 6, 1 P.M.
Prof. Sander Gilman, Emory University; and Prof. Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania; moderated by Museum Director Dr. David G. MarwellLectures by Prof. Gilman, a cultural historian who has written on Nazi science, and Prof. Caplan, a leading scholar in the field of medical ethics, will be followed by a conversation about the origins and legacies of Nazi medical practices.
$10, $7 students/seniors, $5 members
Co-presented by FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics). mjhnyc.org/faspe
This program has been made possible by a generous grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany: Rabbi Israel Miller Fund for Shoah Research, Documentation and Education.
Presented in conjunction with Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race. Tour the exhibition at 12 P.M. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Call 646.437.4202.
You can find out more about the exhibition by clicking here and more about the symposium by clicking here. You can watch an exhibition overview video by clicking here. You can order a copy of the fantastic catalog by clicking here, or peruse it anytime in The Morbid Anatomy Library.
Images top to bottom:
- International Hygiene Exhibition, 1911 promotional poster: The eugenics movement pre-dated Nazi Germany. A 1911 exhibition at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden included a display on human heredity and ideas to improve it. The exhibition poster features the Enlightenment’s all-seeing eye of God, adapted from the ancient Egyptian “Eye of Ra,” symbolizing fitness or health. Credit: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
- Students at the Berlin School for the Blind examine racial head models circa 1935. Students were taught Gregor Mendel’s principles of inheritance and the purported application of those laws to human heredity and principles of race. During the Third Reich, German born deaf or blind, like those born with mental illnesses or disabilities, were urged to submit to compulsory sterilization as a civic duty. Credit: Blinden-Museum an der Johann-August-Zeune-Schule fur Blinde, Berlin
- Head shots showing various racial types. Most western anthropologists classified people into “races” based on physical traits such as head size and eye, hair and skin color. This classification was developed by Eugen Fischer and published in the 1921 and 1923 editions of Foundations of Human Genetics and Racial Hygiene. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Nazi officials at the “The Miracle of Life” exhibition, German Hygiene Museum, Dresden, 1935. The new Nazi museum leadership asserted that societies resembled organisms that followed the lead of their brains. The most logical social structure was one that saw society as a collective unit, literally a body guided by a strong leader. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration
- The head of a Jewish youth was sculpted from wood by the Jewish artist M. Winiarski for German officials in the occupied Polish city of Lodz. Credit: Zydowski Instytut Historyczny, Instytut Naukowo-Badawyczy, Warsaw
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Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand, November 15th and 29th
I have some very exciting news! Observatory's perennially sold out Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven is back for 2 newly announced classes this November, one on Tuesday the 15th and the other on Tuesday the 29th. For those as-of-yet unfamiliar with Sue's work or the history of anthropomorphic taxidermy, check out the video profile of Sue above, compliments of the always amazing Midnight Archive.
Full details follow for the classes follow; if interested, please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com making sure to specify which date you would like to attend. And these classes are VERY popular and tend to sell out fast, so please RSVP as quickly as possible to secure a slot!
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand
Date: Tuesdays November 15th and November 29th
Time: 7 PM-11 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
***MUST RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com; Class size limited to 15Anthropomorphic taxidermy--the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities--was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces--which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party--in his own museum of curiosities.
On Tuesdays November 15th and 29th, please join Morbid Anatomy and taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven for a beginners class in anthropomorphic taxidermy. All materials--including a mouse for each student--will be provided, and each class member will leave at the end of the day with their own anthropomorphic taxidermied mouse. Students are invited to bring any miniature items with which they might like to dress or decorate their new friend; some props and miniature clothing will also be provided by the teacher. A wide variety of sizes and colors of mice will be available.
No former taxidermy experience is required.
Also, some technical notes:
- We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
- Everyone will be provided with gloves.
- All animals are disease free.
- Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone.
- All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class. All mice used are feeder animals for snakes and lizards and would literally be discarded if not sold.
- Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the clas
You can contact Sue with any more questions by clicking here.
You can find out more about both classes by clicking here. You can find out more about The Midnight Archive by clicking here. And again, if interested, please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com making sure to specify which date you would like to attend. Also, please click on image to see much larger version.
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Grand Guignol Spectacular: Call for Pieces, Volunteering Opportunities, Save the Date and More!
The Grand Guignol--posters from which you see above--was a Parisian theatre infamous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for theatrical productions merging horror and elegance, sex and death, fear and humor. To celebrate my 40th birthday, my very talented friend John Del Gaudio and I are putting together a Grand Guignol-inspired variety show and masquerade after-party on December 10th of this year that will be co-presented by Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum and will take place at the latter.
We have just launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money for the production, with which we hope to pay participants a modest honorarium for their materials and labor. If you are interested in helping support this laudable endeavor, you can visit our campaign online (and contribute!) by clicking here.
To get inspired, check out our image- and video-rich Grand Guignol mood board (be sure to scroll down and click on thumbnails to see larger images) by clicking here. To learn more about The Grand Guignol, make sure to attend Mel Gordon's absinthe-sponsored lecture on the topic at Observatory next Friday, November 11th! More on that can be found here.
Also, if anyone is interested in pitching a short piece for inclusion, or volunteering their time for costumes, props, acting, etc, please email me at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.
Thanks! And whether you can contribute or not, mark your calendars! I promise this will be a great party; more on that as it develops.
Full text for the call-for-funds follows:
Join our band of curios and support the Grand Guignol Variety Hour at Coney Island Museum on Saturday, December 10th.
THE INSPIRATION
From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” movies of today.THE PROJECT
Presented by Atlas Obscura, Coney Island Museum, and Morbid Anatomy, our event will be a one-night-only ode to The Grand Guignol and its legacy. Our evening of variety theatre will be dedicated to such Guignol-esque and fin de siècle pleasures as the uncanny; spectacular illusions; sex and death, elegance and horror; tableau vivants; occult tinged magic shows; phantasmagoria; hysteria; contortionists; toy theatre; puppets; optical tricks and much more!Participating artists include Lord Whimsy, Jonny Clockworks, Ronni Thomas, Doll Parts, GF Newland, Sarah Shoerman, Angela Di Carlo and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin, with a special set to be designed by NYU’s Chris Muller. Projects include a toy theater version of Bryusov’s “The Sisters,” a harmonious and creepy rendition of “Dry Bones,” an installation of classic Grand Guignol posters, magic lanterns, horrific film montages, and stagings of classic French and London Grand Guignol plays, all followed by an after-party with records on the victrola and cocktails courtesy of Hendrick’s Gin.
THE NEED
Your donation will go directly to the artists involved, providing them with a small honorarium and production budget for their piece. All donors will receive advance word about buying tickets to the event. There’s a limited capacity so to guarantee yourself a ticket, consider giving at least $100.PERKS
$20 Contribution
Listing in program with your fellow horror afficionados, advance word on ticket sales to the event.$100 Contribution
One ticket to the event on December 10th, listing in program$500 Contribution
Two tickets to the event on December 10th with reserved seats, an old-timey shout out during the show and listing in program
Pledge your support now and get ready to geek out with us.Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio
Co-Curators
To find out more and to contribute (thank you!), please click here.
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Happy Halloween From Morbid Anatomy!
All images drawn from Rip The Skull's Halloween Poscard Flickr set; you can see the entire fantastic set by clicking here.
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Stem Cell Treatment Kidney Failure – Video
http://www.StemCellTreatment.org Kashka came down with actor Danny Glover and had stem cell treatment for kidney failure. He has been on dialyses for the last 4 years and is now feeling more energetic already after only his first treatment! Before coming to the American Stem Cell
Go here to read the rest:
Stem Cell Treatment Kidney Failure - Video
Same DNA Livin Life Ep 9 (Live Performance) – Video
9th episode of Same DNA's Livin Life Series Live performance at Kutztown University
See the article here:
Same DNA Livin Life Ep 9 (Live Performance) - Video
Learn Biology: Gregor Mendel Biography – Video
Learn Pilates (but save $$$): mhlo.co Mahalo biology expert Mary Poffenroth tells you about famed geneticist Gregor Mendel. Gregor Mendel: Early Life --------------------------------------------------------------------- Born Johann Mendel on July 22, 1822, in Heizendorf, Austria (now part of Czech Republic) to a farming family, the future founder of modern genetics excelled in his studies. His family, however, was unable to pay for extended formal education.
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Pox parties taken to the next (illegal) level
Normally, we don’t post on weekends on this particular blog, mainly because most of our readership visits during the week and we don’t have enough bloggers to cover the weekend reliably anyway. However, occasionally something happens that’s so bizarre, so worrisom that we can’t wait until Monday. I don’t even care if I’m late to the party after Tara, Mike the Mad Biologist, The Biology Files, Todd, and probably several others whom I’ve missed.
Regular readers of this blog and anyone who’s ever followed the anti-vaccine movement more than superficially have probably heard of pox parties. These are, yes, parties where parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children against chickenpox, hoping for “natural immunity,” expose their children who have never had chickenpox to children with active chickenpox in order to intentionally infect them with the disease. (Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a couple of weeks worth of misery and intense itching and a small chance of serious complications!) Although there might have been a weak rationale for such activities back before there was a vaccine for chickenpox, today pox parties are about as dumb a concept as I can think of and only make sense in the context of equally idiotic anti-vaccine pseudoscience, and apparently, as is the case with many idiotic things, has co-opted Facebook and other discussion forums as a means of getting like minded (if you can call what is behind this a “mind”) together for purposes of inflicting misery on their children. One such page even has a Quack Miranda-style warning:
It is explicitly expressed that, regardless of the beliefs of the group moderator or its members, the group is not responsible for the outcome of the connections made. This group is not intended to give medical advice, speak as a medical authority, or cause children to contract any illness. Parents who do so on this board, do so at their own risk and without the advise or recommendation of the leadership of this group.
Which is, of course, a lie so obvious that one wonders why the moderators even bothered.
Some proudly display pictures of pox on children’s limbs. Others are even so proud of their “efforts,” that they proudly post pictures of them on their blogs, with captions such as “The little people enjoying each other, playing, and getting exposed” and “Although it sounds awful, we certainly hope the exposing worked!” I can only shake my head and respond that “it” doesn’t just “sound” awful. It is awful. True, major complications are fairly uncommon but they can be quite serious, with all of this being done in the name of being “natural” and avoiding those evil vaccines. It turns out that some parents, apparently having difficulty finding children with active chickenpox in their area (thanks to the aforementioned evil vaccine, no doubt), are mailing the virus to each other:
Doctors and medical experts are concerned about a new trend taking place on Facebook. Parents are trading live viruses through the mail in order to infect their children.
The Facebook group is called “Find a Pox Party in Your Area.” According to the group’s page, it is geared toward “parents who want their children to obtain natural immunity for the chicken pox.”
On the page, parents post where they live and ask if anyone with a child who has the chicken pox would be willing to send saliva, infected lollipops or clothing through the mail.
Parents also use the page to set up play dates with children who currently have chicken pox.
Medical experts say the most troubling part of this is parents are taking pathogens from complete strangers and deliberately infecting their children.
One concern is that they are sending the virus through the mail.
Here’s video of the local Arizona news report:
Again, I can’t begin to describe how reckless this is. It’s also highly illegal—a federal offense. I know of what I speak, because I personally have had to ship viruses and DNA plasmids through the mail. The reason was when I changed jobs about four years ago and was in the process of moving my laboratory to a new institution. I had a lot of adenoviral constructs. Varicella virus falls under the same sorts of rules as adenovirus. There are very specific rules for shipping. Tara explains quite nicely some of the requirements, among which is that there are very specific labeling requirements for the package to indicate what pathogens are inside. In fact, I found out the hard way just how rigorous and complex the labeling requirements were when a couple of the packages were returned because, as much as we tried to follow the letter of the regulations, we had somehow missed something in the labeling and paperwork. At that point I even briefly flirted with the idea of loading the samples up in my car and taking them myself when I hit the road to my new location. I quickly abandoned that notion, realizing that that, too, would be illegal and, worse, potentially dangerous. What if I got in a car crash along the way? So instead, we checked, double checked, and triple checked our packaging and paperwork and sent it again. This time, it went through, as we hadn’t missed any of the requirements.
As Mike the Mad Biologist points out, this is no different from bioterrorism, other than in intent. For one thing, the parents doing this seem utterly oblivious to the potential danger to the postal workers or workers at FedEx, UPS, or other shipping company that they use to send these biohazards. One also wonders if the parents use anything approaching proper technique to insert their “gifts” into the packages so that they don’t get it on their fingers and thus contaminate the outside of the package. In any case, should the package be damaged or should the baggy fail, so much for containment, and anyone who comes into contact with the package is at risk. That’s why there are so many federal regulations about shipping biohazardous substances across state lines. Indeed, when it was pointed out that shipping biohazards like bodily fluids from an individual infected with varicella across state lines is a federal offense, this was the reaction:
A Facebook post reads, “I got a Pox Package in mail just moments ago. I have two lollipops and a wet rag and spit.” Another woman warns, “This is a federal offense to intentionally mail a contagion.”
Another woman answers, “Tuck it inside a zip lock baggy and then put the baggy in the envelope
Don’t put anything identifying it as pox.”
The level of irresponsibility and lack of concern for fellow human beings is staggering. As Todd points out, it’s not just varicella that might be in there? How does anyone know that there aren’t other pathogens in there? They are utterly self-absorbed, selfish, and lack concern for anyone but themselves and their own family. Indeed, look at the interview with the first mother in the video; she openly discusses sending pox through the mail and doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal, all the while rambling on about how it’s the parents’ “choice.” The second mother, when confronted by a reporter, out and out lies about what was on her Facebook page, denying that she ever sent pox through the mail. It’s a mindset that was perfectly described as a Me! Mine! Mommy mindset that boils down to, basically, the right to be selfish.
But it’s worse than that. Near the end of the report from the local CBS affiliate above, there is a post from a parent looking for measles, which is much more dangerous than chickenpox. Her reason? This:
Dad is threatening to take it to court and getting exposed is the only way not to get the vaccine without possibly losing custody.
If you want an example of how far the irrational fear of vaccines will drive some people, you have no further to look than this story. At the risk of being too “strident” or “nasty” or “uncivil,” I can say unequivocally that what they are doing is, in my opinion, child abuse and that I hope that the feds come down on them like a ton of bricks for violating federal law and endangering everyone who comes into contact with their little “pox packages.”
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